Non-sitting of Parliament

On the eve of independence it is a shame the Parliament/National Assembly has not had a sitting for almost three months. There is a saying that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  The presence of non-Europeans, who are the majority in Guyana, sitting in the Parliament did not just happen. It was achieved through long, arduous struggle.

The spirit of Dr. Cheddi Jagan, Mr. Forbes Burnham and Mr. Peter  D’Aguiar is disturbed. They, along with others including Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow, the Father of Trade Unionism, fought for the people’s representation in the Legislature. In their time voting was not a universal right. It was a privilege only the plantation and merchant classes enjoyed. The decisions and laws they made dictated the lives of the masses who had no say or representation.

The fight by Critchlow and other regional trade unionists, which began in 1926, was to change the existing status quo. It was a struggle to make voting a right for the masses in order that they could have a say in the governing of their welfare and through their elected representatives. The privilege to vote moved from the European class to the moneyed.  This advancement allowed for persons like Dr. Jagan, who in 1947, with the support of Sydney King ( Eusi Kwayana), was able to win a seat in the legislature as a candidate for Central Demerara.

It was not until the 1953 elections the masses were able to vote and elect their government and representatives to the legislature. Universal adult suffrage in Guyana is only 68 years. Guyanese must not only recognise this achievement but appreciate the fact that the right to vote and elect representatives of choice took centuries of struggle. Universal suffrage was used to push for political independence. The votes represented the unified voice of the people, who through their elected leaders, were able to demand political independence. It was a resounding voice the Crown could not ignore.

The foregoing is a history Guyanese cannot afford to forget, treat with scant regard or will be condemned to repeat it. No pandemic (coronavirus-COVID-19) should be used as an excuse to prevent sitting of the National Assembly. The legislature is one of the three branches of government- Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. The President and his ministers comprise the Executive and they are working. The Chancellor, who heads the Judiciary, and her judges and magistrates are working. The only branch of government not working is the Legislature. The Legislature (Parliament) is the branch, according to the Constitution of Guyana, that is the country’s highest decision-making forum. The other branches are not constrained by COVID-19 from doing their work. Ways have been found to make them operate and the same should be found to have parliamentary sittings.

It is a shame, given the fight by our forebears to win the right to vote, that 68 years after having won it, their descendants are showing scant regard. It is a shame on the eve of Guyana’s 55 anniversary there has been no sitting, not because the House is in the customary recess, but by willful acts not to have sittings. It would be a greater shame should Guyanese accept Parliament is not sitting due to COVID-19.  COVID-19 is not the cause it is being used as the casus belli.