The previous two essays in this series express the point that government officials have an inherent incentive to renege on promises of good governance once they attain power. These officials are more likely to maximize their personal gains and power positions at the expense of social progress. Given this expectation, the onus is on the government of the day to credibly commit to good and transparent policies.
In the case of Guyana, where patronage has roots in the post-independence systems of Party Paramountcy of PNC and Elected Oligarchy of PPP, the government of the day has to be extra careful in its signals to make sure its hiring practice and policies do not further widen the ethnic divide. It has to be vigilant that its policies are not perceived as engendering marginalization. The rest of the column will outline some possible reasons why governments have been unaccountable and what reforms might be put in place. The points made below were lifted from a presentation I made on April 8 at a Guyanese symposium in Washington, DC.
Firstly, the culture of true competitive primary elections within the two main political parties does not exist. There is curtailed transparency in the manner in which the Presidential candidate is selected. If the culture of
