We need consensus politics

Dear Editor,

 

People who see the presence of different races as an impediment to our progress as a nation are ethnically insecure. Having many races does not make us weaker as a nation; it makes us stronger. We just have to find the solutions to our problems.

Some people propose power-sharing, partition or federalism. My personal belief is that federalism would not work; we are too integrated for partition to be an option. So, that leaves only power-sharing or the present system.

I am not against power-sharing. I just do not like the way it is being proposed. For power-sharing to work, we need mutual trust, mutual co-operation and mutual respect for each other to promote mutual understanding.

We all want the same thing, that is, to see Guyana move forward economically, politically and socially. This is why I believe that consensus politics should be practised by our politicians. Consensus politics will eventually lead to the three conditions above (trust, co-operation, respect) being developed, that will in turn lead to power -sharing. That was why I temporarily joined the AFC (because the PPP/C and PNCR-led APNU were not practising consensus politics) until I realised that the AFC was not doing so either.

There is no such thing as a homogeneous race.

 

Yours faithfully,
Sean McLean