“…we are a free people, a people who have cast off the chains of oppression and colonization…”

by Amanza Walton Desir

The Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana is an enduring symbol of our nationhood. It testifies that we are a free people, a people who have cast off the chains of oppression and colonization, an independent people with the audacity to determine our own Guyanese destiny.

This sacred document more than any other, represents the will of the people, the chief cornerstone of this “our new Guyana, great and free”.
Our ancestors, African and Indian alike, who collectively struggled for our independence from colonial oppression, some paying with their very lives, must feel such a deep sense of shame at our present condition.

That some are willing to desecrate this sacred document in hopes of obtaining what will only be a pyrrhic victory, is a sure sign that Guyana is on the verge of an abyss from which there will be no return.

The stories of resource rich developing countries being divided and then conquered through an insidious plot of economic recolonization are all around us. We are in one. It is happening before our very eyes. But those that would oppress and subjugate us understand one thing- the lust for power, however brief and fleeting that power might be, remains an unfortunate characteristic of our mentality. And one that makes us vulnerable to the caprice of those that would seek to place us in contemporary bondage.

Our Constitution is under attack!! The question that remains to be answered is whether WE THE PEOPLE, irrespective of our political affiliation will rise up and defend her. Will we demonstrate the maturity this hour demands? Or will we be lulled into complacency by that very false sense of security we feel when the man in State House looks like us?

The Constitution is clear. Article 177 (2) provides, that “[the] Presidential candidate shall be deemed to be elected as President and shall be so declared by the Chairman of the Elections Commission acting only in accordance with the advice of the Chief Election Officer, after such advice has been tendered to the Elections Commission.” The advice has been tendered. The Chair of GECOM must now declare the elections as the constitution demands. The Chairwoman will decide whether history will judge her legacy as the person who tipped us over the precipice or the person who in the face of great international pressure and threats, resolutely stood in defence of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.