Dear Editor,
Guyana must come good, and not just for our sake but for the sake of future generations. The inspiration of the Obama success story will unlock the gate that has for so long barred the road to more general constitutional change for more inclusive government in Guyana.
The urgency of the task has suddenly become apparent. All through the extraordinary scenes following Obama’s victory the Guyanese public’s impatience with the values and structures of Guyana was plain and almost palpable. Constitutional modernization is becoming an imperative. In short, the relationship between the governed and the governors needs to be recast if Guyana is to survive and take its rightful place as one of the Caribbean’s leading countries in economic, social and political terms.
The notion that Guyana can stay on course to fulfil its destiny of one people and one nation under one central crown and pliant parliament, with a centralized bureaucracy and minimal local decision making, is no longer sustainable.
The case for Guyana having its own Obama-like realignment with the people of this country is now overwhelming. The national parliament does not have the legislative time, power or inclination to pass the many second-order laws needed to address particular community and citizens’ concerns. Decision-making needs to be brought closer to the Guyanese people.
There are knock-on consequences for the Guyanese economy and society. As political power passes to the people − all the people − so financial and business power will follow, reversing the long process by which the “grafting on of the Westminster model of parliamentary democracy virtually on the eve of political independence” has weakened our potential for greatness. Equally, the trust and social capital that are an essential component of the good society and economy need to be constantly replenished, and one of the best means of instilling the values of co-operation and collaboration is through working together in local and national initiatives. Guyana will find the Obama affect a means to such rejuvenation.
Shared governance or government for the people by the people should hold few fears for the Guyanese people. Advocates for maintaining our present political system have always suffered from a certain political and cultural schizophrenia while resilient national consciousness has struggled with the fear that exclusion from the larger polity will endure. On such anxieties the opponents of shared governance have repeatedly played using emotive imagery and terms like ‘seizing power through the back door.’
The same dreary tunes will continue to the heard until the good people of Guyana stand up and demand to be included. But Guyanese should not be afraid. It should not take street demonstrations for the feelings of ordinary people to be made known; they should flow spontaneously into the political system. That means developing new institutions from the grass-roots up. Obama has shown us the way. We now have the chance and the inspiration to begin a process of profound importance for the Guyanese people.
We must seize the day even as we thank Obama for opening our eyes to what can be achieved if we want change badly enough.
Yours faithfully,
F Hamley Case
