A MAN MADE DISASTER


Georgetown is already a disaster. An explosion of disease is all that remains to condemn the city as unsafe for human habitation. The spectacle of Georgetown and its environs under water was not unusual but the mixture of water with muck and floating garbage from clogged drains could only be described as gross. Even though the Government has taken control of the city’s administration, the interminable blame game continues, while the city gets worse every year, just when we felt that it was so bad it could not.

Yet we were recently regaled by Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, a Champion of the Earth, not bother about clogged drains. The daily column in Guyana Times, Eyewitness, nowadays reflects his views in uncannily familiar language, close to his own. It regularly takes issue with anyone, including me, who may have ignited, or could potentially ignite, the great man’s infamously short fuse in puerile analyses and ‘pathetic’ (Eyewitness’s word) conclusions, but has not pontificated on the relationship between clogged drains and flooding in the city.

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THAT THIRD PRESIDENTIAL TERM


There has been much, inevitable, speculation about the future of President Jagdeo. It started while his second term was coming to an end as supporters, including the late Pandit Reepu Daman Persaud, publicly expressed support for a third presidential term. It intensified when flyers and buttons were produced and widely circulated. Speculation about a third presidential term has been renewed once more, no doubt because many supporters of the PPP believe that his candidacy will restore its absolute majority. Many supporters also feel that his resolute aggressiveness towards the Opposition and all critics is exactly what is needed at this time.

President Jagdeo is still very active in politics and governance. He also maintains a high international profile, serving on many bodies relating to climate change including of the Commonwealth. He recently addressed the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference. The dilemma that will face the PPP when election time comes around is whether to field the same candidates who were unsuccessful in bringing home the majority. The first issue is to determine whether a third presidential term is possible under Guyana law?

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LOCAL DEMOCRACY – AS DISTANT AS ‘A PALE BLUE DOT’


In the 47 years of Guyana’s post independence history, Guyanese have had the opportunity only once, in 1994, of having freely elected our local leaders. Local government elections were held twice after 1966, once under the 28 year rule of the PNC in 1974 and once under the 21 year rule of the PPP in 1994.

One of Guyana’s great indigenous institutions was its system of local democracy. We did not invent it but it grew with the village system, which was developed after slavery by former slaves and their descendants. Later institutionalized by legislation, local authorities were training grounds for both local and national leaders. They together established the Guyana Association of Local Authorities known by its acronym, GALA. It was a powerful and respected body and influenced the development of policies. Llewelyn John, a practicing lawyer and politician and a former PNC Home Affairs Minister, emerged into national prominence from the local government system. So did Dalchand, a former PPP MP and a senior Party leader, who started his political life as a village leader and now lives in Canada.

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NO STATESMANLIKE DISCOURSE IS HEARD ABOVE THE DIN


President Ramotar has announced his intention to re-examine the Government’s future relationship with the Opposition after its refusal to support the anti money laundering amendment bill last Thursday in the National Assembly. It is believed that the  intention of the President is to further reduce the already limited contact between the two. But the reason for the impasse is in fact the lack of communication. This being so, a greater degree of engagement is likely to produce a more positive result. However, the tone of the President suggests that short shrift would be given to any such idea.

But it has worked elsewhere. At the present time the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats in Germany are engaged in discussions to form a ‘grand coalition’ due to the recent election results. The two parties have fundamental, ideological differences in political and economic philosophies and are bitterly divided on many issues. However, no one doubts that their current discourse will eventually find common ground as it did in Angela Merkel’s first term. The Chancellor, like President Ramotar, can decide to go it alone. But she knows that Germany will suffer political instability which will harm its economy if she does and therefore prefers a government in which she would get some, though not all, of what she wanted in what may well be her last term.

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APNU MUST EMBRACE MORE THAN A ONE DIMENSIONAL VISION


The anti-money laundering bill (Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill 2013 No. 12 of 2013) now before the National Assembly should have been tabled several years ago. Both this and the previous Governments were negligent in failing to do so in a timely manner. The Opposition has pointedly criticized this unwarranted delay. It is now time to move on.

The Opposition has a responsibility to ensure that the bill is passed with whatever amendments it negotiates with the Government or otherwise deems appropriate. It has the votes to amend any clause during consideration of the bill in the House.

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