Guyana closer to a national democratic state
by Donald Ramotar
During the past (seven) years, Guyana has been transformed. In every area of life - political, economic and social - great progress has been made. Through hard work and good governance, the PPP/Civic government kept the economy going forward. Our growth rate has outstripped that of Caribbean and most of the Latin American countries. Another very significant achievement in the economy was the fact that the huge foreign debt, left by the PNC government, (has been) substantially reduced. At the social level, we see improvements in education. This is reflected in higher passes in examinations; health services have been improved greatly as seen in the falling infant mortality rates; and housing has taken off in a really big way. These are all tangible things that can be seen and measured. Volumes can be said of these achievements. The focus of this article, however, would be on the intangibles, the pricelessness of democracy and the national democratic state that we are striving to build. In the first place, our party has always held the view that social and economic progress could not be sustainable unless we have political democracy. Lack of democracy, in the pre-1992 period, led to a great alienation. Every social class suffered - workers, farmers, business, etc. The society was decaying with moral values and pride sinking into an abyss. Taking the local situation as described above into consideration and the rapidly changing international scene, the party was convinced that what we needed was a National Democratic State. We felt that such a state would represent the interests of all the legitimate class forces in the society. This is necessary to build in our context, in which resources, human and otherwise, were so depleted that it was and is necessary to harness all our forces on all-round development. To build such a state, the party, which is a party of the working people, built alliances with other class forces in the society. The result is the PPP/Civic alliance. With this alliance, confidence was restored in all the major areas of the country. Investments by local businesses climbed yearly. A level playing field was created in which the disadvantages, which our local entrepreneurs were placed in relation to foreign capital by the last regime, were almost removed. We demanded that foreign capital respect our traditions and our people. We insisted that workers' rights be respected. Foremost among these rights was the right to be organised in trade unions. For instance, before the PPP/Civic government took office, the company transporting bauxite, J.P. Knight, was refusing to recognise the CCWU (Clerical and Commercial Workers Union) even though the workers had clearly indicated their support for that union. The new government insisted that the union be recognised. The gold company, Omai, did not recognise a union until the government changed in 1992. Our national democratic state has implemented democratic norms in every aspect of life. For the PPP/Civic government, democracy is not restricted merely to representative democracy, that is, respecting the results of elections and the minority obeying the majority. It has been expanded to include consultative and participatory democracy. At the same time, the government has restored accountability to the masses in Guyana. Many of these were seen in the way the new Parliament functioned. Important bills were sent to select committees as consensus was sought with opposition parties. Moreover, on many occasions the government withheld bills at the last moment to seek greater consensus and accommodate the concerns of the opposition parties. Outside of the Parliament chambers, the PPP/Civic government sat for hours with business representatives and with the trade unions to address the demands of those social forces. As far as accountability is concerned, the record of the PPP/Civic is untarnished. Every year since 1992, the Auditor General's Report has been coming out and tabled in the National Assembly. They have been made public. It is apposite to point out that before the PPP/Civic assumed office, the last Auditor General's Report was done in 1982. The task which the PPP/Civic had set to accomplish with the creation of a national democratic state included the following: 1) to consolidate our national independence, 2) to ensure that farmers have land to cultivate and to eliminate all survivals of feudalism; 3) to ensure that a tri-sectoral economy, i.e. public, private (both local and foreign) and cooperative ownership; 4) to secure a substantial improvement in living standards for all our people; 5) to democratise the social, economic and political life in Guyana; and 6) to pursue an independent and peaceful foreign policy. No doubt, we have gone a very far way on this road. The changes in all aspects of our lives since 1992 constitute a evolution in our society. We have to pursue this course for the continued prosperity of our country. Yes, over the past five years we have achieved a great amount of success. However, there still remains a far way to go to consolidate our national democracy. This can only be done by continued economic progress, which only the PPP/Civic is equipped to do. (Donald Ramotar is the General Secretary of the PPP. This article, taken from the PPP web site, was written for the fifth anniversary of Guyana's return to democracy in 1997.
(We reproduce below an article done by Mr Ralph Ramkarran, S.C., an executive committee member of the People's Progressive Party (PPP) for the fifth anniversary of the return of democracy to Guyana - taken from the PPP web site). The return of democracy to Guyana by Ralph Ramkarran October 5, 1999 marks the (seventh) anniversary of the return of democracy to Guyana by the holding of free, fair and transparent elections on that date in 1992. As we recognise this significant event in our history we must reflect on the past, discuss our achievements over the last (seven) years in order to ensure that the 28 years of authoritarian rule which Guyana experienced does not return. The authors of the most destructive era in Guyanese history, 1964 to 1992, express impatience when reference is made to the past, to where Guyana was in 1964 when the PPP government left office and to the level of devastation it endured and to the state to which it had sunk in 1992 when the PPP/Civic took office. This feigned impatience is a political tactic designed to shift the focus of attention from the disastrous years of dictatorship to its effects which are currently being felt and which would take years to eradicate. The issue of emigration is a case in point. The years of rigged elections and economic decline resulted in such a high level of emigration that there are almost as many Guyanese living overseas as live in Guyana. As conditions worsened and poverty increased, the trickle of Guyanese out of Guyana in the 1960s became a flood in the 1980s and "backtracking" became big business. The fact that emigration, both legal and illegal, did not atop on October 6, 1992, is exploited by the political opposition to demonstrate that the government has failed. The reality, of course, is that broken families are being repaired while the government is struggling to improve the economic situation from the level of that of Haiti to which the Mc Intyre Report had consigned Guyana. The high rate of emigration resulted from lack of democracy and of economic opportunities. In relation to the issue of democracy, the election results from 1957 to 1992 demonstrate the monstrous level of rigging of elections between 1968 and 1985 against which the people of Guyana and the PPP fought. In 1957, the PPP won 48% of the vote, in 1961, 43% and in 1964, 46%. The PNC increased its votes from 40% in 1964, the last free and fair election prior to 1992, to 56% in 1968, 71% in 1973, 78% in 1980 and 77% in 1985. A comparison of the number of votes received by the PPP in 1985 and by the PPP/Civic in 1992 indicates the level of rigging. The PPP received 45,926 votes out of 294,801 votes cast in 1985. In 1992 the PPP/Civic received 162,058 out of 308,852 votes cast. This large-scale robbery was facilitated by padded voters' lists, and the seizure and stuffing of ballot boxes. Other methods included the abuse of proxy votes, intimidation of voters, invasion of polling stations and instilling a climate of fear. The PNC boasts that it was responsible for introducing free and fair elections in Guyana in October 1992. While Guyana under the PNC could not be compared to South Africa under apartheid, nevertheless the PNC's claim is akin to de Clerk's argument that the National Party dismantled apartheid. The reality in South Africa as in Guyana is that the forces of democracy were responsible for the removal of unpopular, undemocratic, authoritarian regimes. To accept otherwise would constitute a grave injustice to those, and in Guyana the thousands, who suffered and struggled for so many years. The sacrifice of the Berbice Martyrs and Walter Rodney are appropriate reminders hat the democracy of October 5, 1992, was not a gift from those who stole it in the first place, but the generous bequest of those who gave their lives for it The general elections of October 5, 1992, was immediately followed by an explosion of democratic debate about the direction of the economy, the alleviation of poverty, race relations, privatisation, corruption, and other fundamental issues. It has permitted those who in 1992 were clamouring fro the sale of the Guyana Electricity Corporation for one dollar to now demand with equal insistence that the GEC should not now be sold at any price. Local government elections (under the PNC) had been last held in 1970. The most infamous evidence of rigging of these elections was the discovery of a wad of ballot papers wrapped in a rubber band in a ballot box and all marked for the PNC. This is the last time local government elections were held until August 1994 when the PPP/Civic government reintroduced local democracy by holding elections in 65 local councils. With the return of local democracy, the depressed conditions of life in rural areas have been transformed by a level of infrastructural development which has not been seen in each a short period in our history. The developments include the construction and/or repair of schools, health centres, dams, bridges, culverts, drainage and irrigation projects, and farm-to-market roads. The result has been a rapid increase in production, particularly in agriculture. The level of development in rural areas has been truly astonishing. On October 27, 1991, the PPP issued a Declaration for Freedom which stated: "We proclaim that we shall not rest until dictatorial rule is swept aside and democracy is fully restored in Guyana". By 1994 the late President Cheddi Jagan could claim with confidence and pride: "We have established a democratic culture in the country. And by democracy, we do not simply mean representative democracy. . . we are talking about consultative and participatory democracy." In an interview with Stabroek News at that time, he referred to the restoration of the constitutional requirement of consultation with the Minority Leader which had been observed in a perfunctory manner under PNC rule. One of the main institutions in a democracy is the Parliament. Rigged elections from 1968 onwards resulted in a Parliament which did not reflect the will of the electorate. Despite this rigged majority, Parliament was subverted. Debates were restricted. Legislation was rushed through and the deliberativeness of the Parliament was destroyed. The new Parliament under the PPP/Civic government functions as a Parliament should. One of the earliest pieces of legislation considered by Parliament was the Termination of Pregnancy Act. Before its third reading, it was referred to a Select Committee. Eventually, it was supported by all the political parties. Parliament has just considered, towards the end of its life, the Integrity Act. It was similarly referred to a Select Committee and the end result was unanimous support for the Act. This government started its life with a Parliament that was severely crippled...that symbol of democracy (has) been restored to its former glory as the institution where our people will receive full expression. Guyana has been transformed into a nation which in many ways is unrecognisable from the one which existed in 1992. Much of this transformation is a dividend of democracy. The (December, 1997 general election) will assist in institutionalising a democratic culture providing the forces of democracy triumph and continue to do so in the future.
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