Africa is witnessing a new phenomenon of armies rising-up in coups to take political power. However, the one that is particularly interesting is Gabon in central Africa, where President Ali Bongo was dethroned and arrested by his elite guards. Ali Bongo and his family lived an opulent lifestyle while the people live in abject poverty. The elite strive while the ordinary people are forces to face rising cost of living.
Whilst guardians of democracy and democracy instrumentalists are likely to frown on this bloodless coup, and see it as a step in the wrong direction and a blow to democracy, but when democracy (Greek derivatives meaning the rule of the people) no longer see the people as centre of development democracy becomes a mere shadow of itself.
The situation in Gabon mirrors certain aspects of our own Guyana. So far, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has withdrawn about $124 Billion from the National Resource Fund (NRF). As they put it to carry out “transformative projects”. No one knows for sure what this means. But the government continues to be largely not accountable and opaque. If by “transformative projects” the government means the poorly constructed roads, many of which have already started to show signs of stress and fatigue then Guyana is really in trouble.
The government has constructed a round- a- about with a system of water rising and falling in a pattern with colourful lights when communities that are contiguous to that fountain are experiencing serious shortage of portable water. It is a question of priority and clear the government is more concerned about infrastructural works than investing in our human resources and for obvious reasons. Instead of talking about transformative projects, the PPP/C would do well to heed the words of their leader Dr. Jagan who in addressing the World Summit on Social Development in 1995 said:
“We need a Development Agenda that will address such important issues as alleviation of poverty, expansion of productive employment and enhancement of social integration of the more disadvantaged and marginal groups.”
Guyanese are still looking for the “transformative projects” worth $124 Billion.
In oil- rich Guyana more than 80% of Guyanese are below the poverty line. Public servants, many of which are single parents, are still being paid starvation wages, which present them with a disability to properly feed and take care of their children. Public servants get less than US$500 dollars per month. Many government and state agencies like the Guyana Revenue Authority, National Insurance Scheme, and even Public Healthcare Sector are reeling from shortage of critical technical, administrative and health personnel, which is affecting the delivery of quality service to the public, which in turn affects the quality of life.
These so- called transformative projects do not translate into tangible benefits to improve the lives of ordinary citizens. And while President Ali talks about “transformative projects” he continues to flagrantly ignore simple but important issues to strengthen democracy, including the appointment of a substantive chancellor of the judiciary and a chief justice.
By the PPP/C’s management they can make no claim to solid democratic credentials and boasts about fighting to keep in place democracy. People are not fools or easily fooled and they know the true history of the PPP/C tells a different story. It is a history of incompetence, creed, marginalization, disregard for the rule of law, order and the ordinary man, woman and child.
This is an autocratic regime, masquerading as a democratic one to abuse power and resources. The PPP remains bullheaded against best practices in truly democratic societies, including accountability, transparency, the rule of law, social justice and inclusivity. Two issues immediately come to mind; the way the government used the system to protect former Minister of Local Government Nigel Dharamlall, against whom an Indigenous teenage girl alleged sexual misconduct; and the way the incumbent handled the massive inferno at Mahdia, shielding responsible ministers from taking responsibility for that unprecedented tragedy that claimed the lives of twenty young Guyanese citizens.
The government continues to exclude more than 40% of Guyanese from the national decision- making process. Democracy is a mere shadow of itself when it is used substantially by governments to protect their stranglehold on political power at the sacrifice of the rights and the well-being of all people. In those circumstances, instead of ensuring economic, social and political justice, democracy becomes a conduit for corruption, domination and control, inequality, injustice and exclusion of minorities and dissenting voices. Not only do those conditions degut democracy of substance but they are also fatal to it.
