Dear Editor,
At a time when the PPP regime is struggling to keep public trust, the prorogation of parliament and the setting of May 11 as the date for general elections without dissolving parliament has fuelled damaging public speculation and criticism of the President.
Hard on the heels of the vulgar and embarrassing tape recording of the AG is the confusion and fear of senior members of the PPP of losing the election. Many of the Jagdeoites who are fearful of losing power believe that the no-confidence motion proffered by the AFC against the minority PPP government could have been handled differently by the President. They have disagreed with the President that the proroguing of parliament was his only choice and have argued that the validity of the no-confidence motion should have been referred to the courts.
On the surface, this appears to be a straight case of the President protecting his government from defeat, but for the Jagdeoites, it is not. However, be that as it may, the timeline of events leading up to the no-confidence motion calls into question the process by which the Minister of Finance spent $4.5 billion of the taxpayers’ money without the approval of parliament or any direct input from the combined opposition.
Given the improper actions of the Finance Minister, are the President and the government really asking the public to believe that they had no idea that such action would have triggered the no confidence-motion? Did the President not know that the Minister of Finance’s actions had undermined the legitimacy of parliament? Did he believe that the AFC was bluffing when it threatened to bring the no-confidence motion against the minority PPP regime? These issues call into question the sagacity of the President and his ability to govern the country.
In the circumstances, one would have expected the President to express concern about the dangerous precedent being set by his government in what amounts to a pre-emptive move against parliament to scrutinize and check the actions of the cabinet, especially how they are spending the taxpayers’ money. Parliament which is the bedrock of the democratic process has been rendered ineffective and powerless by the actions of the President and the Finance Minister.
Even with the circumstances that faced him, the President had options he could have explored before issuing his declaration to prorogue parliament. He should, for example, have recognized that the combined opposition was frustrated with him and his cabinet for disrespecting parliament and violating the constitution. The real and substantial danger is that the opposition felt that the minority PPP regime acted as if it is a majority government and in the process has disrespected the opposition. They have reduced Parliament to a rubber stamp and have treated the constitution like a toy for them to play with. The actions of the PPP regime could not have been easily ignored or dismissed by the opposition.
During the last 15 years, the PPP regime has not only denied the people their right to speak out against wrongdoing without fear of reprisals, but they have also abdicated their vital role of providing critical thought, intellectual and democratic leadership to the people. It was a role for which the PPP regime was exceedingly ill-prepared because it was founded as an appendage of the Stalinist-Communist tradition and could not function in the role of providing intellectual and democratic leadership to the country but instead dictates to the people.
What the PPP regime also needs to know is that there is a significant increase in the number of graduates coming out of the University of Guyana who are walking around with a piece of paper but who cannot find a decent-paying job to support their families. How did our beautiful country with such a small population but with so many natural resources, first-rate skills and talented, educated individuals come to this sorry state? The first thing the people need to understand is that what Guyana has become is the result of a failure by the PPP regime to respond to and change certain encrusted and increasingly anachronistic traditions of the party.
Faced with the blindingly rapid changes in communications and technologies which began about 25 years ago, and which ushered in a period in which knowledge came to replace other resources as the main driver of economic growth, it became very clear that the PPP regime lacked the skills and ability to adapt to the changes and perform such a role.
What we have today under the PPP regime is a wasteland of intellectual and technological barrenness, ineptness and poor governance that are a travesty of what Guyana should be. And this should be a cause for grave concern for every right-thinking citizen. Plain and simple, for the President to prorogue Parliament and rule by decree means this is a dictatorship which Guyana does not need.
Yours faithfully,
Asquith Rose
Chandra Deolall
Merle Spenser-Marks
