Dear Editor,
Mr. Eric Phillips in a letter published on 9/8/‘24 edition of S/N headlined: ‘The next election will be critical if we are to forge ahead as a multiracial and multi-ethnic nation’ was long on pontificating and pessimism clothed with a strange political motive. Mr. Phillips, it appears, would like Guyanese to wipe the historical slate clean, make a fresh start and begin exploring the best form of democracy and inclusiveness for them as if they are complete strangers to these key pillars of good governance. Based on his letter, Mr. Phillips suggests that Guyanese have never experienced a true taste of democracy save and except during the periods of the Burnham, Hoyte and Granger administrations. Interestingly, I do not recall Mr. Phillips openly championing constitutional reform nor shared governance while the PNC/APNU+AFC were in office.
With the PPP/C in government, Mr. Phillips now posits that our only salvation as a nation resides in constitutional reform. According to Mr. Phillips; ‘What Guyana needs at the next elections is Parliamentary shared governance as this is the only path to ensure shared governance is enshrined in our next constitution.’ He then amplifies; ‘The beginning of this process of good governance begins with three strong political parties at the next elections so that neither of them receives more than 49% of the electorate.’ Phillips’ justification for shared governance is – ‘There is an inconvenient truth about Guyana that is known throughout the world. This inconvenient truth is that Guyana is a deeply divided racial society.’ He went on; ‘Racism has plagued Guyana because of an incorrect historical narrative that has been promoted and maintained by racial entrepreneurs’. He further argues; Guyana needs a new constitutional arrangement that will heal Guyana’s racial rift and encourage, facilitate and ensure nation building.’ But while speaking to a ‘Politics 101 podcast (26.9.’24) Phillips made an abrupt u-turn in his prognosis about Guyana’s future stating; “it’s not about sharing power it’s about partition as an option to be discussed.”
To achieve his objectives, Mr. Philips has advocated that opposition parties should not contest the next election separately, but should do so as a united block; that they should commit to a single goal; to win the majority of seats in the next parliament and aim for a minority government. And donning the garb of a prophet of doom, Phillips makes a quantum leap suggesting and at the same time asking; ‘Without an inclusive form of governance, Guyana is destined for conflict and failure.’ Once a country has oil, geopolitics will always trump local politics. Will Guyana become an existential form of Gaza?’
To address his rather outlandish concerns Phillips then pontificates; ‘At the next elections, I hope there are three strong parties so that no party obtains 49% of the vote. This would be the greatest gift to Guyana and its People. Guyana cannot afford anything else.’ How the opposition parties will accomplish this feat is anybody’s guess; but Phillips has carved out what he considers a strategic pathway for opposition parties to follow in order for them to achieve the goal he has plotted for them to follow. Phillips’ narrative appears to have gained traction in opposition circles since the PNCR has identified Aubrey Norton as its presidential candidate followed by the WPA with David Hinds as its candidate but Mr. Hinds should acquaint himself with the constitutional requirements.
It is now left to be seen whether the AFC will follow suit. Now that the WPA and AFC has exited the APNU and with the PNCR left like a hanging shard in the alliance, what will be the position of the remnants in the APNU is yet to be seen. Mr. Phillips fails to situate his hubristic line march in the context of Guyanese realpolitik. The democracy we live in is basically liberal democratic in nature. Political parties and trade unions as well as NGO’s are free to proliferate and citizens enjoy freedom of association and the right to belong to an organization of their choice. And just in case he did not know, humans are not only social beings they are also political ones. From playgrounds to corridors of power, they are constantly forming, modifying, ending and generally complicating alliances of various hues and shades.
What Mr. Phillips is seeking to achieve cannot be accomplished through his ‘electoral pathway’ since politics does not exist in a universe ruled by determinism and order. Neither is it akin to a perfectly designed machine or pathway as envisaged by Phillips. In other words, the outcome of a political move can be completely different from the action initiated. That should be the starting point for any scientific analysts of what is and what can be for a future Guyana. Everything else including politics, the judiciary and the legislature are secondary since, as integral parts of the superstructure they all stand atop the economic base on which society is built. Guyana’s economic trajectory is on the upswing leading to the dismantling of old beliefs and prejudices based on corroded discourses not rooted in verifiable reality.
Yours faithfully,
Clement J. Rohee