by Eugene Pursoo
Grenada Ambassador to the UN (former) – 1990-1995
The phrase “For the love of country” is so overused and abused that in the minds of many it is little more that trite. Yet, there are times when men and women of good conscience stand on the threshold of grave circumstances and the only course of the action must be guided by the love of country.
The leaders of Guyana’s APNU-AFC and PPP-C are at such a critical juncture in their country’s history and their best course of action must be based in “for the love of country”. On March 2, 2020, Guyana held general elections and as of July 12, 2020 a clear and accepted winner of those elections are yet to be agreed upon. Both parties are intransigent in their position that they won the elections and as such, it is within their rights to govern the country. As days go by the situation gets messier and messier. The disturbing fact is that such situations breeds instability and can easily to explode into chaos.
Guyana is an important member of the Caribbean Community, and as such, the situation should be of grave importance to the CARICOM. It is worth mentioning that despite Guyana’s economic challenges in recent times, the country has a brilliant history of being on the forefront of progress in the Caribbean. As late as sixty years ago, Guyana was a significant supplier of household goods to much of the region, especially the southern countries. The country supplied the region with rice, blue soap, and sugar. To date, much of the southern islands in the Caribbean archipelago gets it timber, sand and other building materials from Guyana. The University of Guyana is a model of self-determination in the region. The institution has produced numerous intellects and scholars who are stand-outs in the international community. Members nations of the CARICOM can ill-afford to stand by and watch Guyana teeter on the brink of civil strife, knowing that among other things, instability in any member state negatively impacts the entire Community.
Some Guyanese question CARICOM’s right to intervene in the sovereign matter of elections. CARICOM is not interfering in the elections; it is intervening to prevent an impending calamity. As a regional body it has a right to protect the citizens of any of its member states from mishaps, the kind that the present situation portends. If the PPP and the PNC continues the square-off over the question of the rightfully government, the situation could quickly deteriorate into a lose-lose situation. At this stage it is not about RIGHTS but more so about a way out of this stalemate. Indeed, the noble thinking and action at this time should be to consider relinquishing a degree of perceived rights for the greater good of the country. At this point, one viable solution should be to schedule a new election within two years, with the proviso that the election will be conducted by CARICOM and that all participating parties agree to abide by the certified result from CARICOM. CARICOM should be given the right to set the terms of this special election in consultation with the parties. The regional body should regulate the process and invite external monitors as they see fit. Hopefully this would be a on-time role for CARICOM.
The urgent solution to this situation must be a first step in ensuring social stability as a necessity for national development and as a pre-requisite to tackling the more deep-seated problem of the ethnic divide between Indo-Guyanese and Afro-Guyanese. I will comment on this issue in a subsequent article, but nothing should detract from the urgency of moving Guyana from the brink of political conflict to more secure grounds. The appeal is to the two political parties to drop their intransigent stand and for the love of country, call a new election to resolve the stalemate.
