A REVIEW OF SHARED GOVERNANCE AND WHAT IT COULD LOOK LIKE

The phrases ‘shared’ governance’ and ‘winner-take-all’ were introduced into Guyana’s political lexicon in the mid 1970s by the ever-resourceful Cheddi Jagan. At that time the PNC had given itself a two-third majority of votes and seats in the National Assembly at the 1973 general elections. It placed the PPP on the backfoot by the nationalization […]

NOW WHO IS CHERRY-PICKING?

The question is really very simple: Will the PPP/C propose inclusive governance in the constitutional reform process that is due to commence this year, as promised in its 2020 Manifesto? This is the question I asked in my article two weeks ago – “Constitutional Reform and the 2023 Budget.” The Attorney General, the Hon. Anil Nandlall, sought […]

INCLUSIVE GOVERNANCE IS DEAD

It is now over twenty years that inclusive governance, referred to previously by other slogans such as ‘participatory democracy,’ was enshrined in the Guyana constitution. The principle was set out in article 13 which was enacted as part of widespread constitutional changes in 2001 following the Report of the Constitution Reform Commission (“the Commission”) of […]

SHARED GOVERNANCE HAS NO POLITICAL SUPPORT

In the case of the Attorney-General v Richardson, the then Attorney General, Basil Williams, challenged in the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) the ruling of the Guyana Court of Appeal striking down as unconstitutional the provision of the Constitution that limited a President to two terms. During the hearing, it was revealed that the constitutional […]

ONE OF THE MOST ADVANCED CONSTITUTIONS IN THE REGION

The statement captioning this article was made by the President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the Hon. Justice Adrian Saunders, at the recent Bar Dinner. He mentioned the process of constitution reform that took place in 1999-2000 which resulted in many recommendations that were implemented in 2001. I have written about this before, […]