Dear Editor,
Some sixty-six hours after polls closed on November 28, Gecom finally managed to produce the final results of how 342,236 Guyanese voted. Gecom’s lethargic behaviour in producing results in a timely manner opened it and the process to suspicion that many won’t easily live down. The next government and Parliament must work together to overhaul Gecom before the next election so it can function as an independent body and not be allowed to continue appearing as an inept
appendage of the executive branch. Give it an annual budget to do its duties, including hiring and training personnel, educating and informing voters, and acquiring computer technology to aid in voting and tabulating votes cast, so it will deliver the voting results on Elections night. Anyway, we can’t dwell interminably on elections, even if we don’t agree on the process that produced the final results, because we have a nation to build.
So, it is with a heavily disappointed heart that I say congratulations to Mr Donald Ramotar on his ascendancy to the presidency of the Republic of Guyana. Can he really redeem himself after 1) his failure to rein in the party’s 1999 choice for president who went on to display an aversion to government transparency and accountability, and 2) his failure as a board member to help prevent GuySuCo from costing taxpayers billions of dollars in avoidable losses? What about his “wishy-washy rejects“ reference to Messrs Trotman and Ramjattan? And what about his haste to send PPP stalwart Mr Nagamootoo a thank you letter, the equivalent of a dismissal? The new President has his work cut out, and while we don’t know what exactly his priorities are, we can only hope he governs in a diametrically opposite fashion from his predecessor, including ensuring the checks and balances system works for the people of Guyana, and, hopefully, he taps into the vast reservoir of talented Guyanese at home and abroad, politics and ideologies aside, in undertaking the Herculean task of nation-building.
I don’t know if he will revisit state deals struck by his predecessor or even investigate myriad cases of corruption (the new Parliament should demand as much), but he will redeem himself in the eyes of many if he does, and produce satisfactory results that could see seizure of bank accounts and other assets and even criminal charges. This may mean putting a lot of daylight between himself and his predecessor. The entire elections exercise, in retrospect, was not without its high and low points, with the high points being all three of the candidates conducting themselves with laudable decorum, and the low points being former President Bharrat Jagdeo’s acidic rhetoric.The PPP candidate had the clear advantage over his rivals because of his party’s access to the state’s resources, and it appeared as though the President literally campaigned on his behalf, and if there is such a thing as buying votes, then this was evident with government coughing up hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars on all sorts of projects and bonuses. As a result, the PPP recorded 166,340 general elections votes (32 seats), compared to 183,867 in 2006.The APNU candidate, a virtual newcomer to active politics, seemed to have revived the PNC, based on the hugely impressive number of votes cast – 139,678 (26 seats) compared to the PNC’s 114,608 GE votes in 2006 – for his grouping, and it is now left to for us see whether he will become the new Opposition Leader and also whether there will still be an APNU or PNC.
Mr Granger should replace Mr Robert Corbin, period!
The AFC candidate, a brave leader who refused to be compromised by corruption by his former PPP, knowing his new party was short on resources to wage an effective fight, still represented with confidence and courage those Guyanese whose eyes have been opened to the reality that race-based politics has stymied Guyana’s ability to come into her full potential since the PPP and PNC started pandering to race-based constituencies for support and votes. The AFC did much better this time around with 35,333 votes (7 seats) compared to 28,366 votes in 2006. The net effects of the defection of Mr Moses Nagamootoo from the PPP to the AFC will become clearer as we continue assimilating the number of votes cast for the AFC in traditional PPP strongholds, because Mr Nagamootoo jumped ship mere weeks before Election Day. That Mr Nagamootoo’s defection to the AFC barely dented the PPP’s base could be interpreted to mean that although many PPP supporters are disappointed with the President and looked up to Mr Nagamootoo, they probably held out hope that Mr Ramotar will be the exact opposite if elected president. And I am confident that if he does the right thing, the nation will support him, regardless of what we might have thought of him before his ascendancy to the presidency.
Still, it is obvious from massive turn-outs on the campaign trail followed by voting patterns in traditional strongholds, Guyanese have once again voted largely along racial lines, perhaps indelibly establishing the role of race in Guyana’s political culture. Apart from race-based voting, Guyanese generally ought to be congratulated for their post-election patience and calm in the face of Gecom’s apathetic counting of votes. As a people, we are growing, albeit
painstakingly slower than expected. Hopefully, by 2016 we will show greater maturity as we vote issues and not mere race. With the election campaign now over and the new government set to get on with the nation’s business, we, the people – at home and abroad – have to remember we are first and foremost Guyanese, regardless of our political inclinations, and it devolves on all of us, therefore, to continue doing everything we can to fight and help make Guyana a better and safer place for all, whether those at home or those visiting from overseas. The PPP, APNU/PNC and AFC now have a unique opportunity to show the nation whether shared governance can or will work.
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin
