Centralised leadership in Guyanese parties should end

Dear Editor,

In reference to Joey Jagan’s ‘The PPP central executive and the “Gang of 8”’ (SN, Jun 15), wherein he briefly contrasts decision-making in the PPP and the US, it must be noted that the PPP is not the only party to deny its members full participation (inclusive of voting) in the functioning of the party. All the political parties in Guyana are guilty of this. Historically, parties have employed “undemocratic aspects” in their election of leaders, executives, and in decision-making. All of them utilize a kind of democratic centralism in leadership elections and decision-making. None of them operates in a truly democratic way.

In the US, leaders and candidates for office are selected by the members of the party and at various levels of the party (the party is decentralized to make it very democratic). In Guyana, all the parties utilize the centralized delegate system (the selection of candidates is rigged to produce a particular result) to select leadership; opinions are not considered among members in policy-making. And Guyanese parties don’t allow secret balloting for leadership as in America; the counting of ballots can always be fixed to produce a desired result as we have seen in internal party ‘selections’ going back to the 1950s.

The parties in Guyana should adopt the American system of selection of party leadership and candidates for office. The parties in Trinidad have moved in this direction for party offices and there is talk of adopting the same for candidate selection in the near future. Guyanese parties should allow for the full participation of their members in all decision-making and in leadership (as well as candidate) selection. There must be unrestrained discussion in a party’s executive. This idea of centralized leadership should end forthwith. Rubber-stamping decisions made by the top party leadership is an idea of the past when few people were schooled. Today, most of the nation is educated; a large percentage of the population attended college or a tertiary institution. People can think for themselves. Thus, a few in the top echelons of the party no longer need to think for the rest of the population.

All party members should decide on the direction of a party. The members of a party must exercise greater political influence and have their opinion considered in party development. They must be given the vote from the bottom up, not top down. This is the essence of democracy.

Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram