POLITICAL DEFECTIONS


Political defections in Guyana have a long and ignoble history. A rare exception was that of Henry Jeffrey towards the PPP, although he never joined that Party. Faced with the choice between academic integrity and dishonesty in the mid 1980s when he was writing a book, ‘Guyana,’ while preparing his doctoral thesis in the UK, he chose the high road. He sat on the executive of the PNC but instead of defending electoral malpractice, he took the position that the PNC had been guilty of electoral fraud. He was dismissed from his job as principal at Kuru Kuru Cooperative College and for several years after his return to Guyana he could not find employment at UG.

Although tied to the PNC during the 1970s and 1980s, he had always exercised an independent political mind. He regularly visited the Michael Forde Bookshop, then something of a mini, pro PPP, intellectual hang out, now a shadow of its former self, and engaged in polemics while many feared even travelling through that part of Robb Street where Freedom House is located.

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THE JURY SYSTEM HAS FAILED GUYANA


In early June last year I wrote an article entitled ‘Abolish Jury Trials.’ I argued then, and repeat those arguments now, that jury trials ought to be abolished because convictions are now rarely obtained from juries even in the most glaring cases. The Attorney General and several criminal lawyers disagreed with my suggestion and views.

I believe that on the scale of things, trial by jury is not an issue of paramount concern to most people. But crime is escalating and juries have continued to free the most violent criminals in the face of compelling evidence. I have not kept any figures and no statistics are published but I would not be surprised if less than five persons have been convicted in the last twenty trials. And it is not all because of faulty police investigations or incompetent prosecution.

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AMAILA FAILED BECAUSE PUBLIC RELATIONS WERE IGNORED


An uncharted situation faced the new government after the 2011 elections. Having decided to go it alone as a minority government, a plan for governance designed to create some consensus was expected to unfold. An unstructured tripartite committee was announced but it lost credibility because the government refused to have serious consultations on the 2012 budget, the AFC was left out of the discussions relating to the Linden electricity issue and has thereafter refused to participate in discussions because of alleged Government recalcitrance on other matters. No structure to generate  trust and confidence existed by the time Amaila came around.

In an effort to convince the Opposition and critics on Amaila, discussions took place with President Ramotar and Minister Ashni Singh. Mr. Winston Brassington and his advisers also had discussions with critics. Documents were handed over. The chief public spokespersons for the government defending the project and answering critics were President Ramotar and Minister Singh, although others, including Mr. Brassington weighed in occasionally. There was no organized public information campaign or effort to supplement, expand and define on a daily basis what they had to say. On the other hand, the Opposition and other critics were in the media every day.

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NOTES ON POST-CONGRESS EVENTS


The recent Congress of the PPP concluded just as was predicted by me in a recent article (“The PPP’s 30th Congress). There were lots of applause, the Central Committee Report was adopted unanimously, poor organizational work was declared to be responsible for the 2011 electoral defeat, the Opposition and some other ‘enemies’ were identified and vilified (myself and Moses Nagamootoo) and a new Central Committee was elected without any headline catching result.

An atmosphere was established which appeared to rule out any new initiatives to break the political deadlock. Even if a more structured mode of conversation with the Opposition had been proposed, it is difficult to see how that could be accomplished or produce any results after the Opposition was accused of ‘criminal’ and ‘terrorist’ conduct.

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LAND TITLING: CORRECTING ‘HISTORICAL PROBLEMS.’


Two weeks ago a Government team led by the President Ramotar visited Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice. This area is populated by descendants of indentured labourers and has a substantial land problem. The President described it thus: “…historic problems which has (sic) been in the making for a long time whereby lands were given out to people and some of them sold out but no title was passed to them while some died out and some migrated and in the meantime, over the years, it was festering and beginning to cause some problems in the community itself.”

The President announced the Government’s decision to resolve the problems of the community. Under the Land Registry Act the area would be declared a “registration area.” When this is done the parcels of land occupied would be surveyed. The President announced that the Government will allocate the sum of $46 million for the survey. Upon completion of the survey the Land Court will then receive applications for title, hold sittings at which evidence of occupation will be taken and ownership granted.

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