Dear Editor,
It has been reported that the Government of Guyana is prepared to consider executive power sharing. To my mind, this demonstrates the sincerity of President Granger in bringing the country closer together. During the 2012 budget debate, Opposition Leader Granger made an effort to work with the then government on a pressing matter, electricity rates for Lindeners. Although that agreement fell apart, it showed Mr Granger’s natural instincts for addressing issues that keep the nation apart. However, executive power sharing is not the answer to the nation’s problems.
Executive power sharing arrangements are best used as temporary fixes during crises. As reported by the New York Times on September 13, 2015, the longest such arrangement in Northern Ireland, is on the verge of collapse. That’s a natural tendency for such pacts. Democracy requires a strong opposition to keep the government accountable. Arrangements which weaken the opposition, weaken democracy. Instead there are two areas I propose that President Granger and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo should focus on in achieving this end. They are the devolution of central power and the composition of political parties.
During the election, individuals were heard expressing the desire to be governed by their own ethnic group. This is our major stumbling block ‒ the lack of trust and confidence in other ethnicities. The solution is to move more of central government’s power into the regions, so these ethnic groups have more control over their lives. Guyana already has three territories which existed as separate governing bodies up to the late 18th century when the Dutch administered what were then the colonies of Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo. British acquisition of the colonies changed that in 1831. This is probably the time to reconsider the United Counties of Guyana (UCG). Central government’s role would be limited to external and internal security, foreign affairs, finance including customs and trade administration, and policy positions on health, education, environment and resources. The counties should be given full independence for their own development with funding coming from central government revenues allocated on some per capita basis. There would be no limitations on the movement of citizens.
Devolution by itself will not solve the problem, as an important aspect is changing our political parties into multi-ethnic entities. Although one would like this to be natural, after fifty years of independence, it hasn’t happened. So we must force them to do so. A straightforward legal requirement that would apply to all political parties that seek to contest an election could accomplish this. It would require parties to have as their members and in leadership positions no more than 60% of any ethnic group. It would coerce parties into being more accommodating to other ethnicities to meet the eligibility criteria. Yes, it’s a quota system, but sometimes such systems can bring about desirable outcomes.
And please scrap the Committee on National Unity Talks. That’s not the forum to accomplish anything. President Granger and Mr Jagdeo should meet privately, even secretively, to hammer out an MOU on unifying the country.
Yours faithfully,
Louis Holder
