Guyanese were made aware as early as July that the nation was entitled to a 50 percent share of oil profits from ExxonMobil. But it was only last week that the Ali/Jagdeo regime came clean and publicly acknowledged what the people already knew. This is not a minor matter. It is further testimony as to why Article 13 of the Constitution matters and why citizens must demand their rightful place in the management and decision-making processes of the State.
Article 13, which is the political objective of the society, speaks to an inclusionary democracy. It does not contemplate a population reduced to spectators while governments make decisions behind closed doors and disclose information only when public pressure makes silence impossible.
The implementation of this article becomes even more important when Guyana is dealing with billions of dollars in oil wealth. Our immediate concern must be how the new 50 percent income should be managed, how those decisions are made, whose voices are heard and whether the benefits reach citizens according to national need rather than political preference.
Given the PPP/C’s record of deceit and lack of transparency, Guyanese have every reason to demand accountability. Our national resources cannot be treated as the property of whichever political administration occupies office, for they belong to all the people.
The PPP/C regime must therefore be held accountable to ensure that our resources—and decisions about spending them—serve the national interest. Development must be driven by established national priorities, with proposals for respective constituencies submitted through their elected representatives and assessed according to need, merit and national importance.
What cannot continue is a system in which any administration decides what it wants to give communities and expects people to accept whatever is placed before them. Guyanese deserve a voice in determining their own development.
Government’s failure to devise and implement a comprehensive national development strategy is equally troubling. In the absence of a national development strategy conceptualised through the participation of national stakeholders, the people of this nation will be left to the determination of those who see themselves as masters, not servants, of the people.
Whereas in the 1990s the country had a National Development Strategy that involved stakeholders, which is probably catching dust on some official’s desk, today we have nothing that has the official endorsement of all, not even the National Budget.
Meanwhile, billions of dollars in oil revenues are being spent in the absence of a national plan. No measurable priorities. No mechanism through which every Guyanese can see how the country’s wealth is being transformed into a better quality of life. Guyana cannot afford the political calculation of self-serving interests. It is too dangerous a path to pursue and is marred with dire consequences. To avoid this, the people must galvanise around their common interests and demand better.
We must refuse to allow political divisions to distract us from issues affecting every household—wages, pensions, healthcare, education, housing, public infrastructure, social services and the escalating cost of living. The call for a living wage and decent pensions must remain central. Workers who contribute to building this country must not spend their productive years working for wages that cannot sustain their families, only to retire into financial insecurity. The cost of living must be brought under control and social services must improve.
Even as I say this, it is not lost on me that there is public discourse about people crossing the political floor or aligning themselves with the PPP/C. Freedom of association is a constitutional right, and that right must be respected. Those who have chosen to move must also note concerns that some see their movement as not necessarily being of free will, but driven by financial inducement, economic pressure or self-interest. That reality, however troubling, must not intimidate others into abandoning their beliefs.
Those who choose to stand outside the corridors of power must have the same constitutional rights and access to opportunity as those who support the Government. Freedom of association must carry with it the concomitant right to be free from discrimination because of political association, race or any other difference from those in power.
And this brings me to the point of reminding the parliamentary opposition that it has a responsibility it can no longer evade. Together, they must push for an amendment to the Appropriation Act so that no national budget can be passed without the support of at least 60 percent of all members of the National Assembly. Their actions must be in consonance with the people, more so their supporters, who are equally entitled to their fair share of the national pie.
The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) has advocated this position for years because it would advance the fundamental objective of the State to forge an inclusionary democracy. A simple parliamentary majority must never become a licence to exclude large sections of the population from decisions concerning their own future. Our oil must not become another instrument of political domination, discrimination and marginalisation.
But we have to get up and get by demanding more and putting in the work necessary to make it possible.
The 50 percent profit belongs to all Guyanese. They are entitled to full disclosure of the nation’s resources, transparency in expenditure, equal treatment across constituencies and an economic agenda resulting from meaningful participation of all stakeholders.
The resources of this nation are bigger than the PPP/C, APNU, PNCR, WIN, FGM, or any political party or individual politician. They belong to all of us and we, the Guyanese people, are not Guyana’s new carpet baggers. We must also recognise and accept that our participation in this nation is not a privilege it is our constitutional right!
