September 15th is designated International day of Democracy by the United Nations and as is to be expected, counterfeit democrats in Guyana and worldwide have been rushing to vociferously pledge their commitment to democracy. Democracy’ is a ‘good’ that particularly in the social sphere is essential to the growth of human freedom. Democracy then ‘is and always will be in […]
Future Notes
In February 2021, the Legatum Institute, a London-based think-tank that compiles the Legatum Prosperity Index, published ‘How Nations Succeed’. The Institute is dedicated to creating a global movement of people committed to social transformation: noting that creating a pathway from poverty to prosperity is a goal for some national leaders. ‘Prosperity entails much more than a society’s economy or an […]
‘With regard to the problem of deep ethnic cleavages … Divided societies, both in the West and elsewhere, need peaceful coexistence among the contending ethnic groups. This requires conciliation and compromise, goals that in turn require the greatest possible inclusion of representatives of these groups in the decision-making process’ (Constitutional Choices for New Democracies. 1991) It is undeniable that Guyana […]
As stated in previous articles on this subject, coalitions exist where contesting political parties form partnerships with the primary aim of winning government. Coalitions are commonplace and have been successful in every region of the world, but particularly in places where there are ethnic, geographic, religious and other schisms. Generally, coalition formation and longevity are conditioned by ideological, socio-structural, institutional, […]
Each member of the US Congress has a chief of staff and about half a dozen other employees to help with congressional and constituency work. The US institutional knowledge of what is taking place in Guyana is enormous and on top of this there are many non-governmental and lobbyist organisations from which congresspersons can acquire information about a subject they […]
Three more years are left of the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent, which is intended to focus upon justice and development for African people, and I am not aware of any government commitment to a definitive plan with specific time-bound benchmarks to improve the condition of African and related peoples in Guyana. Some years ago, I […]
I ended last week’s column with the PNC coalescing with the African middle class United Democratic Party (UDP) for the 1961 general elections, which made it obvious that if the British were to have introduced proportional representation and the PNC coalesce with the newly formed United Force (UF), the PPP would have lost government. Although the British were differently motivated, […]
One of the big complaints about the management capacity of former president David Granger has to do with his handling of APNU+AFC coalition relations. It is my contention that Guyana is in transition from a state where because of its numerical strength, one ethnic group could win political power, to a multi-ethnic society in which there are a few but […]
Two week ago, I argued that for decades Guyana has been on the watchlist of problematical democratic countries, and given its geographical location, for better or for worse, the United States of America has persistently intervened in its affairs. The contested nature of the role the recent Republican administration of Donald Trump played in Guyana’s 2020 general elections and the […]
Let me see if I understand this correctly. In the third decade of the 21st century, three members representing one political party on the seven member Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), who have already publicly condemned him, brought a motion to dismiss the commission’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and others. The CEO and the others in question were requested to show […]
