By Roysdale Forde SC, MP
No amount of tomfoolery displayed by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), as a political party and in government, would succeed in cloaking their anti-democratic behaviours toward the people, and in this specific instance, African Guyanese.
The truth is President Irfaan Ali cannot talk about reparation for historical wrongs committed against descendants of African Guyanese and simultaneously, subtly, carry out an agenda that appears to be linked to structural discrimination and marginalisation against certain minorities, without affecting the foundation of our fragile democracy.
Contrary to the PPP’s widely propagated myth, the president is not working to achieve an inclusive and diverse society. Sometimes, in political speeches, which the president has gone into overdrive on, truth and alternative truths are virtually indistinguishable to unsuspecting listeners/ readers, who do not always have the time to carefully analyse what is said or written by government officials.
Whilst the president and his surrogates give the impression they are advocating at CARICOM level for reparations, they fall deafeningly silent on any initiative by the government to honour commitments that facilitate a just and fair society where People of African descent can prosper. One such instance is government withholding funds from the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly- Guyana (IDPADA-G).
It holds true, efforts to passionately encourage the political leadership of the PPP to lift itself to a new plateau of honesty, integrity, uprightness and rectitude by addressing extant conditions and circumstances of injustices and unfairness caused and consistently perpetuated by the discriminatory policies and actions of the government against opposition and minority groups, fall on deaf ears.
The majority of Guyanese are fully aware the government has no real and genuine interest in inclusivity. Guyanese are equally aware the ethos of an inclusive and diverse society emphasise honesty, impartiality, the rule of law, fairness and justice, equality, accountability, transparency, and consultations, at different levels, of local communities, on decisions, events and projects that have the potentials to impact and affect their lives.
Whether President Ali believes his own narrative or not, the concept of inclusivity -never mind multiculturalism; this requires a national conversation-appears to be eluding his administration. It is not that the inclusivity is nebulous, but the government deliberately and intentionally refuses to include others, who do not share its philosophical approach to governance, to participate in the decision- making process. Yet, it is the one thing they so desperately want us to believe, that is, the government is working towards an inclusive society.
However, the facts tell a very different story. One such fact is this: for more than three years the government has not invited the A Partnership of National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) to sit on state and other statutory boards and has excluded the coalition on other issues pertinent to governance and the people’s well-being.
Further, the Ali government’s action goes contrary to Article 9 of the Constitution of Guyana, which states: “Sovereignty belongs to the people, who exercise it through their representatives and democratic organs established by or under this Constitution.”
An Opposition that represents half of the population of this country is excluded from state boards. Half of the population of this country remains completely unrepresented on boards that provide critical oversight to important constitutional and state institutions and corporations in Guyana. This state of affairs facilitates certain fatal failings of our democracy.
Here are two: (i) democratic deficit. The people’s representatives are not allowed to represent their interests because the incumbent refuses to acknowledge them and allow them to participate in decisions that affect the interests of the people who elected them. This creates a deficit. (ii) the lack of opposition on state boards compromises the virtues of transparency and accountability. Also, it encourages institutional inertia. This affects the efficiency and the effectiveness of critical institutions. Also, it fuels corruption and all of its attendant evils.
President Irfaan Ali and surrogates are fooling no one with his use of words like inclusive, diverse, fairness and equality. We know the meaning of those words. Empirical evidence on the ground clearly shows that the government is neither interested nor willing to allow the opposition to share the political space even at the level of state boards.
Citizens’ feelings of dissatisfaction with existing social, economic and political conditions are known, and they are ready for the impending change that would allow for an equitable and just society. A change is inevitable; it will come. Guyana must rise!
