Political scientist and former People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government minister Dr. Henry Jeffrey has strongly criticised the current state of democracy in Guyana, describing the country as a dictatorship under the watch of President Irfaan Ali. In a recent op-ed titled “Norton, Campbell and Democracy“, Dr. Jeffrey called for urgent democratic reforms both at the national and party level, singling out People’s National Congress (PNC) Leader Aubrey Norton and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) incoming parliamentarian Dr. Terrence Campbell as key actors in addressing what he calls a “democratic deficit.”
Dr. Jeffrey opened his column by saluting Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on her Nobel Peace Prize win, using her struggle as a reminder that “democracy is not merely a way of managing social affairs: much more importantly, it is the expression of human freedom in the social setting.”
He warned that suppressing democracy—particularly in ethnically charged environments like Guyana—“is to institutionalise political alienation and ultimately give rise to substantial social conflicts.”
Reflecting on President Ali’s recent praise for the return of democracy in Guyana on October 5, 1992, Dr. Jeffrey accused the government of deliberate historical “contextual limitation” and pointed to the 2025 report from the international V-Democracy project, which, he stated, “demoted” Guyana to a dictatorial state.
“Nothing has happened since that presentation to change my position,” Dr. Jeffrey asserted. While major observer groups commended the peaceful administration of the 2025 elections, “I cannot recall that any of the major observer groups referred to the process as democratic,” he wrote. “It is well established that elections are better rigged long before elections day and in themselves do not establish a liberal democratic order.”
Dr. Jeffrey went further, describing the PPP’s governance as plagued by inefficiency, corruption, short-sightedness, and domination by special interests. “During its time in government, the PPP has exhibited and continues to display all these negative qualities,” he wrote.
He also reiterated claims that the PPP has attempted to “deliberately impoverish Africans to force enough of them into its ranks to diminish the African case for constitutional reforms.” This, he said, was unsuccessful, even with “the entire repertoire of pre-elections undemocratic behaviour.”
According to Dr. Jeffrey, the PPP continues to govern largely due to its “usual strong ethnic support and the normal, comparatively large, coerced and manipulated Amerindian population that normally votes for it.”
On opposition politics, Dr. Jeffrey assessed that the rise of We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) was “substantially aided by the fragmentation of the PNC,” though he believes that this fragmentation is “unlikely to last particularly since the escalation of its difficulties has now made the other parties weary of dealing with it.”
Turning to internal party governance, Dr. Jeffrey raised concerns about the autocratic nature of political parties, warning of the “iron law of oligarchy,” where parties are “captured by small leadership cliques” and ordinary members have little say. He blamed “communist arrangements such as ‘democratic centralism’” for worsening internal democratic participation.
This, he said, is the root of the crisis within the PNC/APNU. “Mr. Aubrey Norton has been the victim of the wrongheaded position that outcomes of the democratic process can and should be conveniently disposed of,” Dr. Jeffrey said. He added that Norton and Dr. Campbell “will have to confront and deal with this democratic deficit in the PNC if it is to remain and grow as a democratic institution.”
Citing the 2011 PNC internal primaries as a positive example, he suggested that internal struggles now underway may signal that “the democratic impulse has not been extinguished.”
At the national level, however, his outlook remains grim. “Guyana is a dictatorship that lacks an adequate separation of powers and other democratic arrangements,” he concluded. “In the interest of human freedom and development, Mr. Norton and Dr. Campbell should prioritise democratising general and in-party political relations, for one will not substantially materialise without the other.”
Despite criticisms of the governing party, Dr. Jeffrey hinted at a potential for greater political activism through the current parliamentary structure, writing: “If sensibly massaged, the present parliamentary configuration portends greater political activism,” though he warned that the PPP “will continue to be obstructive to progressive democratic improvements.”
