I have been following, with much interest, the exchanges on the Guyana Constitution between Attorney General Anil Nandlall and former Chancellor of the University of Guyana Dr Bertrand Ramcharan.
This is an exchange every Guyanese should follow, not only because of who are involved in the conversations, but it elevates discussions on this vital instrument which the nation’s government, development and the people’s rights is grounded in.
It is an exchange that brings to the fore the nuances of governance in the context of the existing constitution. On one hand there is the effort to have a frank, honest and dispassionate conversation on governance consistent with the constitution. On the other hand, there is an effort to escape accountability by clutching to political deceit and dishonesty.
It remains a travesty to this nation that 58 years after independence and 44 years after the existence of the present constitution this document is not yet part of the formal education structure and taught in our schools. I don’t believe this is an accident. For sinister reasons the government feels ignorance of the constitution works to its benefit.
Were the masses exposed to learning the constitution in a structured way they would not only have held the government accountable and demanded a better way of life, based on constitutional guarantees, but they would also have seen through Nandlall’s chicanery.
The issue in the public domain raised by Professor Ramcharan is the quality of governance being delivered by the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) consistent with the constitution. It is not the constitution being put to the test by the professor. But what Nandlall has done is turned the issue around by saying to the nation that Ramcharan is questioning the constitution and he, Nandlall, is defending this sacred document.
He is not owning up to what everybody knows, i.e. the Jagdeo/Ali regime is autocratic, has no regards for good governance, human rights, law and order when these don’t work in their self- interest.
Nandlall spends time explaining that the constitution makes provision for the separation of power at the various levels, and cunningly returns to the PPP usual mantra of rigged elections by the People’s National Congress (PNC). He uses this as the only act and period of where a government has been in violation of the constitution.
Even as he attempts to speak to rig elections, he ignores to tell this nation that the High Court vitiated the 1997 Elections the PPP claimed it won, free and fair; the 2006 Elections where Sam Hinds occupied for five years the AFC’s Region 10 parliamentary seat; or the irregularities in the 2020 Elections within the PPP’s strongholds, particularly on the lower East Coast of Demerara. He took a wide berth from these.
In his attempt to discredit a legitimate national concern on governance, Nandlall ignores to tell the nation of the PPP’s failure to activate the Coroner’s Act to account for the hundreds of young men that were extrajudicially murdered during Bharrat Jagdeo’s presidency (2002-2006). This is a transgression of the right to life, a human right, as protected in the constitution.
Article 13 of the Constitution mandates “inclusionary democracy” as the principal objection of the political system. The Jagdeo/Ali regime has done nothing to protect and advance. Every day we witness some Guyanese being pushed further and further to the brink of society. We bear daily witness to constitutional violation by a government Nandlall is part of and has a principal responsibility to ensure adherence to the constitution.
Also noted is the attorney general’s attempt to deceive the nation that this regime respects collective bargaining. Let him prove this by withdrawing from the court his appeal against Justice Sandil Kissoon’s ruling in April 2024 which upholds the constitutional right to collective bargaining, and the check-off dues for the teachers. Further, let his regime meet the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) to address the redundancy payment for workers employed at Bauxite Company Guyana Inc (BCGI).
The above represents just a few of the transgressions that have taken place under the Jagdeo/Ali regime. This is the level of autocracy we live in, and some are struggling against.
Nandlall must walk the talk on the constitution and stop trying to fool the nation. People are not fooled, including those who may not have read a word in the constitution. This society is being suffocated by a bunch of lawless men and women, who are paid by the people to be in service to the people, as outlined in the constitution, but who everyday trample on the tenets of the constitution.
