Coalition politics should prevail in our nation

Dear Editor,

The recent announcement of the APNU-AFC coalition is a historic moment in Guyanese politics, and I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all those who brought this coalition about.

From what I have read about the arrangements and conditions between these two parties, there are enough checks and balances placed in the general agreements, that a voter who might be undecided at this time, can identify the merits of this coalition against majority (one-party) rule, which we, the Guyanese people, have experienced all our natural lives and which has left us divided and has weakened our dear nation.

Mahatma Gandhi exhorted against majority rule in India:

“The rule of majority has a narrow application, i.e., one should yield to the majority in matters of detail. But it is slavery to be amenable to the majority, no matter what its decisions are. Democracy is not a state in which people act like sheep. Under democracy, individual liberty of opinion and action is jealously guarded. I, therefore, believe that the minority has a perfect right to act differently from the majority. A living faith cannot be manufactured by the rule of majority.”

Nelson Mandela advocated against and rejected majority rule in South Africa, bringing his former sworn enemies into his first government. Right next door in Trinidad, Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar has rejected majority rule for coalition governance. In many countries throughout the planet, coalition governance is the answer to civil and political strife.

Coalition politics is the new world order; President Cheddi, on innumerable occasions, called for coalition politics and in 1992, created the Civic as a partner of the PPP, hoping to expand the civic as a component of the PPP/Civic amalgamation. This was one of his greatest hopes, as he told me on many occasions. Since his passing in 1997, the Civic has been marginalized to the point where Mr Sam Hinds became a one-man show after failing President Cheddi’s vision, miserably, to say the least; his imminent departure from the Prime Minister’s office is indeed good news. The Civic is dead and any semblance of coalition politics has changed to PPP majority rule (even though they became a minority government). When PPP leaders claim to be following President Cheddi’s vision, let them explain the demise and death of the Civic which Dr Jagan placed so much hope in. Ms Elizabeth Harper, even though a good civil servant, is hardly a civic leader and in reality, becomes window dressing for President Cheddi’s vision – a mirage of what that great man envisioned. Let coalition politics prevail in our nation and those who oppose it will fall by the wayside, becoming politically insignificant.

 Yours faithfully,

Cheddi (Joey) Jagan (Jr)