LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS


Against the background of the passage in the National Assembly of the Local Authorities (Election Amendment) Bill, not yet assented to by the President, which provides that local government elections be held by August, the Chairman of the Elections Commission, Dr. Steve Surujballi, announced that the Elections Commission is ready to ‘go into election mode’ as soon as the date for local government elections is fixed. This ends speculation about GECOM’s readiness. It also challenges the Government’s position on the holding of local government elections. Minister Rohee’s statement that GECOM is not ready is not tenable. Minister Whittaker’s view that the people are not ready has been an age old excuse for the withholding of democracy and lacks credibility.

APNU has seized the opportunity which opened up by GECOM’s announcement to call on the Government to fix a date for the elections. ‘The clock is ticking,’ said APNU’s Chair, David Granger.

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‘NO DEMOCRACY WORKS WITHOUT COMPROMISE’


The headline statement of President Barack Obama was of general application. It assumed more resonance when the Democrats lost the majority in Congress. The PPP learned the lesson that politics is the art of compromise before President Obama was born. Compromise was the basis of its early leadership. It was attempted during the crisis years of the early 1960s, then during authoritarian rule. Compromise allowed it to negotiate around oppression and build alliances for survival.

Yet, ignoring this history, pro-PPP/Government criticisms greeted my article last week (“The chickens have come home to roast”) in which I suggested compromises to get agreement on the AML/CFT bill. One critic accused me of adopting ‘false equivalencies’ between Government and Opposition, forgetting that the legislature, in the expression of its majority will, is of equal status with the executive. The other suggested that I should stop recommending compromises and get ‘backbone.’ Both ignored the fact that the Government holds a minority position in the National Assembly, cannot get its legislation passed without Opposition support, and itself offered compromise solutions to Opposition demands.

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‘THE CHICKENS HAVE COME HOME TO ROAST’


As expected, the anti money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism legislation (AML/CFT) has not been passed in the National Assembly. The months of discourse, debate, committee meetings, efforts to compromise, public statements, even a visit by a CFATF official, have not yielded any positive results.

The losers and victims of the failure to pass the legislation will be the people of Guyana. The proposed amendments required a special effort to be flexible. Striking compromises would have been a win-win result for both Government and Opposition and for the people of Guyana. But compromising in Guyana’s politics shows weakness and is regarded as a bad precedent. It is not yet appreciated that compromise can demonstrate statesmanship which the electorate will welcome.

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NATIONAL HONOURS


In the past Guyanese looked forward to the announcement of national honours on Republic Day. Even though after 1992 they were announced on Independence Day in an effort to restore the celebration of Independence to pride of place, Republic Day has remained the larger event because of Mashramani. Today is a good day to reflect on the subject of national honours.

Since the awards were established, thousands of mostly deserving Guyanese have been honoured. However, the two past PPP/C Governments have awarded national honours only once each in 2002 and 2011. This Government has made no awards. Those Guyanese who toil selflessly for a lifetime in service of our country, even if most of the truly deserving make their contribution without the thought of national recognition, have ceased being acknowledged. As a result everyone now appears to have forgotten that a system of national honours exist and the sense of anticipation at an annual announcement, be it on Republic Day or Independence Day, has completely dissipated.

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THE CARIBBEAN COURT OF JUSTICE IN GUYANA


The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) will sit in Guyana for the first time this week. It is long overdue but welcome nevertheless. Guyana and Barbados were the first countries to accede to the appellate jurisdiction of the Court and our own Justice Desiree Bernard, now retiring, has been one of its first members.

Guyana’s final court of appeal, the Privy Council, was abolished in 1970. The PPP supported the establishment of our Court of Appeal but argued that the Privy Council should be retained for constitutional matters. It was felt that the Guyana judiciary was already being politically subverted and that a window of impartiality was necessary to protect at least the constitutional rights of the Guyanese people. The PPP did not succeed.

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