SPOTLIGHT ON CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM


I had the privilege of being interviewed on the SPOTLIGHT TV programme on Channel 9 in the distinguished company of Henry Jeffrey and Tacuma Ogunsaye, both knowledgeable and experienced observers of the political scene. We had all written recently on constitutional reform and the moderator, Dr. Brantley Walrond, felt that it was a topic of great importance in which his viewers would be interested.

We had all agreed in principle in our writings that Guyana needs a constitutional system that would facilitate the two major political parties sharing the executive in coalition government as a permanent feature of our political life. We recognized, however, that the greatest danger in such a constitutional scheme would be the absence of an effective opposition. Dr. Jeffrey and I had different approaches but I am open to other ideas as I am sure he is.

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EXCISING THE PRESIDENTIAL CARBUNCLE


In his article last Wednesday in Future Notes, (‘Some suggestions for constitutional reform’), Dr. Henry Jeffrey, advanced extensive views on constitutional reform. In order not to lose the momentum and opportunity of a discourse on the subject, I now seek to give some opinions of my own in the hope that they will add to the debate to find a workable and acceptable constitutional arrangement that will create a framework for at least both the major political parties to share the government. This is an outcome that both Dr. Jeffrey and I seek. It is an outcome that is necessitated by a constitution under which a party can ‘lose the elections and still win,’ or where minority governments can become a ‘feature’ of Guyana’s political future, as were approvingly conjectured by Dr. Luncheon in his press conference last week.

The existence of two large ethnic blocs which harbor historic suspicions and resentments about each other and which seek security in organizational form through political parties is the fundamental issue that has been at the core of all of Guyana’s civil and political turmoil and instability since 1955. The exacerbating consequences of colonial exploitation through slavery and indentureship and imperialist intervention have had their not insignificant impact. Until today’s politically disputatious situation, created by our history and overshadowed by ethnicity, is contained by a workable constitutional system, Guyana will show little political and economic progress and instability will continue.

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POLITICS AND THE GUYANA MIDDLE CLASS


The middle class, which supported the PPP in 1950 and was heavily represented in its leadership, began to divide on the basis of the ethno-political developments after 1955. This division and consolidation matured only in the early 1960s. During this process Burnham saw the importance of the middle class, particularly the African middle class. He courted the United Democratic Party, which was the political expression of the League of Coloured People and eventually merged with it. According to some critics of the PPP, Jagan signaled the need for a similar outreach in his 1954 Congress speech. If this is so then it is evidence that both leaders saw the importance of capturing the support of the middle class, or rather, that section of the middle class which they expected to be sympathetic.

These leaders were not mistaken as to the importance of support by the middle class. The African middle class, mainly concentrated in the bureaucracy, played an important role in giving institutional support and strength to the PNC’s campaign to remove the PPP government between 1962 and 1964, itself led by middle class militants. Similarly the Indian middle class, in the small business sector and some sections of the bureaucracy such as the teaching profession, remained grudgingly and sometimes fearfully, loyal to the PPP.

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TRUST AND POLITICS IN GUYANA


General Secretary of the PPP, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, declared at his press conference last week that the PPP has no problem with shared governance and the ‘winner does not take all’ principle. After all, he said, the PPP established its Civic component in pursuit of the realization of ‘winner does not take all.’ In the General Secretary’s analysis, the obstacle to the achievement of shared governance is the absence of trust between the PNCR and the PPP.

There is no distinction between the two. They are one and the same thing.

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GENERAL ELECTIONS – A BOLD AND DECISIVE MOVE


There can be no doubt that APNU’s decision to support the AFC’s no confidence motion when it is tabled in the National Assembly is a bold and decisive move. Political parties generally do not take such chances without some indication that they have a good opportunity of winning the elections or at least changing the political configuration. Winning in Guyana’s context and under our constitutional provisions means one of the two opposition parties obtaining an absolute majority or a plurality which will enable it to have the presidency and form the government, whether coalition or not. Changing the political configuration means reducing the PPP/C’s vote and increasing that of the opposition short of ‘winning’ as described above.

The opposition parties have no scientific way of knowing the state of support for political parties. They can only guess, not assess on the basis of evidence, whether either one of the above possibilities exist. They obviously know something that the public does not know because they must be aware that the PPP has worked assiduously to rebuild its infrastructure and has been claiming that it will win the elections. The opposition parties may well have set their sights on an even more modest goal – obtaining the same or similar results in the hope that it will prove to the PPP that it cannot sustain minority governance.

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