Dear Editor,
With respect to an article in circulation in cyberspace, ‘The show must go on,’ I would like to say that I wholeheartedly support Mr Corbin’s position that Carifesta X should be boycotted if concessions are not made to improve governance in Guyana. I would not myself use terms such as “unmanageable” and I would not limit the area of concern to the restoration of the licence of TV station Channel 6. I would list five objectives of a boycott of Carifesta. They are: (1) The return of the licence to TV station Channel 6 (2) An end to uni-race rule (3) The thoroughgoing application of the separation of powers in governance (4) Empowerment of the local authorities to govern their own lives (5) The decentralisation of the administration to cope with managing the vast territorial space of the country.
This agenda is huge and questions can be asked about the wisdom of imposing such a huge agenda on a relatively small matter such as Carifesta. In economics, we have a rule that we should have as many instruments as targets. In the state of desperation that we have in Guyana, we have to abandon that rule and hinge everything, for the time being, on a single instrument, namely the boycotting of Carifesta. The boycott provides a small window of opportunity to peaceful change in governance which, if not taken, can lead to unfortunate consequences. It is a way out of the low grade war which is being waged in Guyana and which is resulting in severe legal and administrative transgressions.
It is necessary to aim a psychological blow at the President who wishes to show an international face of enlightenment while behaving, as described by a colleague, as a control freak. If the people, primarily the African people, say that they will boycott Carifesta, the likely embarrassment should force reasonable concessions to improve governance that President Jagdeo will never concede unless he is forced to do so. He needs the shock that he will not always escape accountability by hypocrisy.
