Reasons for hope

Editorial
Stabroek News
March 21, 2000


The leaders of the two main parties, locked in their deadly concubinage of some 43 years, seem headed for a rushed election which no independent commentators believe can be satisfactorily prepared for and held in the time available. The many complex tasks to be performed include setting up the Elections Commission and in particular finding a Chairman, setting up the secretariat, amending the constitution, holding a referendum (it is still not clear if this is to be held), agreeing on how the voters list should be compiled (there is talk of using the data from the 1997 elections when 14 year olds and over were meant to be registered, and giving an extended period for claims and objections so that those who were overlooked can be added, but how widespread were the omissions), the vexed question of voter i.d. cards or other forms of identification, selection and training of polling officers and so on. We are approaching the end of March and the election is barely 9 1/2 months away. If progress to date is any measure (the simplest things take a long time) one is entitled to fear the worst.

Yet though the big picture is grim all is not lost. In our Sunday newspaper there was a brief sketch of Minister Geoffrey da Silva who comes over as a modern, sensible relatively young man (46) embarking with energy on a challenging and potentially exciting portfolio - trade, industry and tourism, in particular the latter. Those who have met him confirm his pragmatic, can-do approach. There were also columns by two of the leading members of the executive of the People's National Congress, almost entirely free of the usual political carping. Mr Deryck Bernard, after noting the worst case scenarios of Ulster and Kosovo, embraced an inclusive system of governance, multiculturalism, a concentrated push for new private investment, modernisation of agriculture, industry and infrastructure, and a revitalised educational system. "Poverty programmes and debt relief will not do it" he said. "Not an ad hoc fiddling nor rhetoric. Rather a programme of strategic alliances and clearly defined reforms and incentives so that businessmen and women at every level and from every corner will come and feel welcome."

Mr Raphael Trotman in his column called for politicians to appreciate that they are elected to represent the people and to seek the fulfilment of their hopes for peace and the good life. People are tired of economic hardship and the fight for survival, he said. The current winner - take-all system of majoritarian rule is an anachronism and "has no place in a plural society such as ours where that plurality lends itself to ethnic strife". He called for good governance and the rebirth of pride. Both Mr Trotman and Mr Bernard came over as flexible and forward looking.

At another level, the Guyana Islamic Trust spread the net wide in its invitations to their Eid Festivity which included "socialisation." So there are many positive trends, much to be hopeful about. People want peace, development and prosperity. They want to lead a normal life. They are mortally tired of divisive, no-holds barred, beggar-my-neighbour politics where the good of the country seems to be the last thing on the politicians' mind. One need not believe in utopia to believe that politics need not be as desperate and confrontational as is the case in Guyana today.

Mr Clarence Ellis in a letter also in our Sunday edition, argued that people must put pressure on the political leaders for rational solutions. He called on them to flood Freedom House and Congress Place with letters requesting that they "rise up to the highest levels of their capability and submit to the people comprehensive constitutional documents." "After all," he said "these are our lives and the lives of our children that these leaders are toying with." We agree. The people, civil society, must speak out, must express their fears, must ask their leaders if they are keeping the interests of the nation in mind as distinct from their own, narrow party interests. The time to speak out, surely, for our businessmen, our trade unionists, our younger politicians, our churchmen and our active civic groups must be now.