Guyana Action Party (GAP) MP Everall Franklin has proposed constitutional changes to reduce the powers of the president to form the basis of an electoral alliance, which he says offers “a small window of opportunity” to get the country back on the right path.
“There must be a commitment to specific actions that would ensure the most important reforms are made and the process of reform would have irreversibly begun,” Franklin says in a position paper on alliances that GAP has been circulated to the leadership of all political parties and civil society. He also says that the commitment will form a basis for alliance with other groups since they will not only have a common enemy but a common cause in the form of a specific common goal.
Additionally, Franklin believes that the commitment will also take the political battle to a new place, saying that while the governing PPP promised constitutional change before, it has done little to fulfil the promise.
Franklin told Stabroek News that the paper represents issues that GAP is putting on the table and he noted that other parties have similar ideas. “Any coming together has to be around certain principles,” he said, explaining that these principles “should fuel the enthusiasm and a common agenda.” GAP proposes reducing the powers of the president in several areas. While Franklin notes that to change the constitution a large majority vote is needed in parliament, he also points out that the president could voluntarily delegate powers consistent with the desired reforms.
Among the specific changes in the constitution that GAP proposes is having the president delegate the running of the government to the prime minister. Further, it suggests that the prime minister form the cabinet and manage the affairs of the state and that the president retain bodies that ensure the “just, effective and efficient running of the state,” such as the service commissions, the rights commissions, and complaints authorities. It proposes a system where the prime minister be elected by the electorate as normal, but the president be elected by at least a two thirds majority of parliament, thereby ensuring the president would have the support of more than the winning party and be acceptable to at least some of the opposition. The Constitution Reform Commission, it adds, would be immediately re-convened to deliberate on any other necessary reforms.
Franklin states that the constitution’s purpose is to ensure that power is dispersed among the necessary institutions so that they may fulfil their functions in the people’s interest and to ensure that this given power is never oppressive to the population. However, he argues that the constitution currently gives almost absolute power to the President and the checks and balances are illusory. Further, he feels that it is highly unlikely that anyone becoming President under such a constitution “will bring about little but cosmetic change” and that “the condition will soon degenerate to what it is at present or maybe even worse.”
GAP is already part of the Joint Opposition Political Parties (JOPP) initiative that is pursuing a broad partnership to contest the elections. The JOPP includes the main opposition PNCR, the WPA and the NFA. The second largest opposition party, the AFC, has ruled out participating in a partnership with the PNCR— a move seen as having scuttled the chances of a united opposition challenge to the PPP/C. The JOPP said it would advance consultations among interested stakeholders, notwithstanding the AFC’s decision.
GAP, which aligned with the Rise Organise and Rebuild (ROAR) Guyana Movement at the last elections, has also been having informal discussions with the AFC. Franklin explained that while he remains the MP for the alliance, ROAR ceased to tangibly exist a year after the 2006 general elections.
He says GAP has always sought to build the broadest possible alliance and he believes that patriots from all political parties, trade unions, social organisations, religious bodies and individuals are now needed “to save and build a better Guyana.” For him, there is no doubt that “the present trajectory, path or direction, which our society is on, will lead to the destruction of this nation.” He suggests that this situation can be arrested by all patriotic Guyanese from every quarter “putting aside their petty and not so petty differences and realise, that a small window of opportunity has arrived and is open to allow a fresh breath of air into the society, to clear the putrid stench of corruption, nepotism, fear, insecurity, wickedness and downright stupidity.”
Asked whether the process to achieve a formal alliance should have been initiated earlier, Franklin said that while there is a relatively short period ahead of elections it is not insurmountable. “The task ahead of us is bigger than all of that,” he said.
He also did not agree with the suggestion that the AFC’s decision against participating in an alliance with the PNCR might have closed the “window of opportunity” offered by an alliance. Franklin described the AFC’s decision as “surprising,” adding that he did not think it listened to its membership “on the ground.” At the same time, Franklin said that it is better to have the party state a clear position before formal negotiations have started. “I still think the AFC will be part of an opposition programme,” he noted, saying that ultimately the party’s membership would have to indicate whether it wants to participate in an alliance. “And that is the bottom line for everybody,” he observed.
Franklin, in his paper, also warns against alliances that are “marriages of convenience,” which hope for some synergy from the unity. He takes issue with a “unity of purpose” that consists only of “statements in support of vague concepts such as ‘racial harmony,’ ‘justice,’ ‘love of country,’ ‘human development’ and the like.” According to him, such statements are designed to sound good, such that no-one can disagree with them, but are vague enough that parties with serious differences can appear united. “GAP sees those alliances to be severely limited,” he says, adding that the fundamental problem facing the country is a dysfunctional constitution. In this regard, he points to Article 13, which speaks to inclusivity in decision making and he says it has to be given “real and implementable” meaning.
