All the constitutional commissions should be set up without further delay

Dear Editor,

The National Stakeholder’s Meeting under the Chairmanship of the President on March 12, 2008, came to the consensus (the so-called Bourda Accord) that six constitutional commissions would be formed to enhance our governance framework in Guyana.  The evidence to date is a sad reflection on the quality of our leadership.

This is the implementation rate:

1.  Public Procurement Commission – not formed

2.  Ethnic Relations Commission – up and running under Bishop Edghill (great organisation that has done some good work)

3.   Human Rights Commission – not formed

4. Women and Gender Equity Commission – constituted on May 22, 2009 (11 months behind schedule)

5.    Indigenous Peoples Commission – not formed

6.    Rights of the Child Commission – constituted on May 14, 2009 (11 months behind schedule)

Look at the performance above, are we really serious about our future as a country when one year after the deadline, we are still running around with no clear plan on when we are going to conclude the commitments made to the people of Guyana.  How can a people trust their leaders when their words are not even worth the paper they are printed on?

In my previous letters, I made it clear that Guyana biggest developmental challenge was its social cohesion (not the side issues like Low Carbon Strategy).  All the low carbon initiatives will go to zero if the brothers in Buxton or Den Amstel do not feel that they have ownership in the Guyanese system.

Guyana does not need extremists, it needs practical project managers; it needs leaders who can inspire the people, and it needs leaders who can lead by example. Guyana must fix its foundations first before we can present our case to the world. These six commissions can go a far way in helping us to fix our foundation and have the ‘bolted-on’ benefit of giving non-political stakeholders (civil society) an opportunity to support the governance process in vital areas such as public procurement. There are serious concerns with our procurement system and it would be best to dispel that perception by the urgent formation of the Public Procurement Commission.

If Cheddi Jagan was alive, this would have been a done deal.  Therefore, why are the inheritors of his legacy playing politics with the core values of the father of the nation – lean, clean, mean, transparency and accountability?  Do they not agree with his belief system any more?  Is it OK in Guyana today to accept privileges such as the single sourcing of very large, multi-year, non-emergency, long-term contracts without following the letter of the law?

I do not subscribe to the political persuasion of the likes of Mark Benschop or Lincoln Lewis but their recent arrest for a peaceful, public protest clearly revealed to me that ‘Burnham is back.’  Do we not have a right to express ourselves peacefully and publicly any more in Guyana? The official who authorised this arrest is either out to embarrass the government or is clearly on a dictatorial attitudinal path.

My elders like Komal Chand, Nanda Gopaul, Lloyd Daniels, Gordon Todd and Charles Sampson (in Linden) did not fight for these freedoms for the state to erode them today.  The people and the press have the right to question their leaders without fear or favour and can use peaceful protest as a method of questioning.  Is Guyana now in the space where law-abiding citizens have to fear the bandits as well as the police? Who then is there to protect and serve the law-abiding citizens?

Our indigenous people have always been the most abused in Guyana but the time has arrived for these people to pursue aggressively their rights as an equal partner in the Guyana nation-building process by taking greater responsibility for their lives.

Credit must go to the PPP for all the hard work they have done in repositioning these people in the right space.  An Indigenous Peoples Commission can facilitate ‘new-build’ on this foundation and it is an injustice to the original people of Guyana to have this opportunity delayed.  Abuse of the indigenous people always is there, but with a commission like this one on their side, it creates the mechanism for them to move forward as a collective.

I am confident that the poor and the working class have lost power since the Jagans left the Office of the President.  However, this situation has created an opportunity for a critical mass of leaders within the PPP, the AFC, and GAP/ROAR to regain that lost ground (well the PNC is floating around out there and very lost, so let us keep them out of this).  The time is coming in 2011, when the working class must regain power and all the ‘sweetheart’ deals with the special interest groups must be banished from our public system. The special interests have raped Guyana enough and it is the responsibility of the PPP, the AFC, GAP/ROAR and the righteous members of civil society to put systems in place to prevent this raping from continuing.  A good starting point is the delivery of the commitment made at the National Stakeholder Meeting on March 12, 2008 (already one year behind schedule).

Yours faithfully,
Sasenarine Singh