Guyana’s Slide Into Dictatorship- Part III

By Mark DaCosta- In Part II of this series of articles three postulates were proposed: 

1. The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) – through its administrative regime – is deliberately driving Guyana away from a democratic system of governance, towards a total dictatorship.

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2. Guyana has reached a political tipping or equilibrium point – the country is now more of a dictatorship than it is a democracy.

3. It is not possible to revert to a true democratic system without the intervention of a force outside the ruling PPP cabal.

In that article – Part II– the first premise was proven. In this article the second assertion will be examined.

But first, it must be noted that unlike the first point, this second premise cannot be definitively proven, it can be only strongly argued, and it is up to the reader to draw a conclusion. That is, there are no absolute “truths” that may be established or articulated in this case. Furthermore, nothing in this argument or this aspect of the issue can be quantified. As such, the entirety of any analysis of this second premise is necessarily qualitative and subjective.

Therefore, in attempting to argue the truth of the second point, the only option is to list the characteristics of a democracy, and those of a dictatorship – and draw a conclusion from a comparison.

Now, let’s get to the meat of the matter.

A democratic system of government – which has been previously defined in this series – has particular characteristics. 

Civics Academy states the following:

“Democracy is the most successful political idea in the world. Democracy allows ordinary people a decisive say in who governs a country and how they govern it. It is based on a system of government by all the citizens of a country, typically exercised through elected representatives.

“Democracy has many features; What then are the key features of democracy?

“Although there are other aspects to democracy, we look at six key features. When these six main features are present it indicates a strong democracy.

They are:

1) Respect for basic human rights,
2) A multi-party political system paired with political tolerance,
3) A democratic voting system,
4) Respect for the rule of law,
5) Democratic governance, and
6) Citizen participation”

EXAMPREP lists the following features of a democracy:

• Elected Representative: The people choose their representatives to serve as their leaders. Hence, people are entitled to take part in making decisions.

• Independent Judiciary: Conflicts are settled more democratically because the court is independent of the government.

• Civil Liberties: People can access civil freedoms like freedom of speech and expression.

• Organised Opposition Party: A well-organized opposition party is crucial to democracy because it serves as a check on the executive branch.

• Rule of Law: In a democracy, the rule of law is upheld, and everyone is subject to the law. In the eyes of the law, the law is supreme, and all citizens are treated equally.

Guyanese must honestly ask ourselves how many of those essential features and characteristics are present, and robustly fostered in Guyana? Does our country have strong systems that define and characterise democratic governance?

And now we may look at the other side of the coin; what are the defining characteristics of an autocratic, dictatorial regime?

VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY writes that, “Autocratic leadership is an authoritarian model in which leaders have absolute control. You might summon to mind Napoleon Bonaparte or Queen Elizabeth I: leaders with complete, top-down control over their empires. Autocratic leaders make decisions based on their personal ideas of what is best and typically accept very little input from followers, with the expectation that group members will fall in line with their directives.”

Guyanese may be reminded of the second premise in this series – that Guyana has tipped from a true democratic country to an autocratic dictatorship.

One may be tempted to believe that this article has proven the truth of that point.

In subsequent parts of this series of articles, Guyana’s slide into dictatorship will be further explored.