Dear Editor,
In 1964, Forbes Burnham said, “this government holds that all the people of this country are equally important…” Burnham’s speech was not as eloquent or as fantastic a speech as Jawaharlal Nehru’s speech of 1947 titled the ‘Tryst with Destiny’, but it was good enough to clarify an important principle that all our people are equally important, as spelt out in our Constitution. Thus when I observe the actions of this PNC-led Granger administration, I am alarmed at how far this new PNC has deviated from that Burnham’s principle as set out when the nation was plotting a path to independence.
Some may want to say that Burnham said one thing but did another, but my response is that from my reading of history and real conversation with real people, never in the history of Guyana has a non-PNC member of society ever felt this oppressed by a PNC led government, as we witness today under President David Granger. Unlike President Granger, Burnham was emotionally intelligent, so much so that he always injected himself into all the communities of Guyana to make himself aware of the political pulse of the nation. He might not do anything about it, but he was never apathetic to the people’s issues.
Very few countries of the world have as diverse a population as Guyana (religiously, ethnically, socially, culturally and so on). But this diversity should not be something to exploit to get ahead personally. Our diversity is something to celebrate as we mould a nation. I do not know where Mr Granger learned his politics, but it is all wrong and is grounded in a philosophy of divide and rule which will bury Guyana under the mud for decades to come if it is not arrested quickly. This is where the people come in.
As custodian of the Constitution, the majority has to demand constitutional reform, which Moses Nagamootoo deceived the nation on.
But more importantly, the people have to use every opportunity to highlight this plight and demand a commitment to free Diaspora have great powers and influence and must use it to highlight situations like the one at Mabaruma to their Congress people, Senators and Members of Parliament.
What happened in Mabaruma in the North West is clear evidence that the government is committed to an anti-democratic course. The PPP won the majority of votes, but equal seats with the coalition. In such a situation, the law is absolutely clear. The law says that the voters must then directly elect the Mayor and Deputy Mayor. But Minister Bulkan refused to follow the law and embarked on an illegitimate process that resulted in the party with the lower number of votes seizing the Mayor’s position by kicking the ballot box to the curb.
In all of this, we cannot hear a squeak from his Cabinet colleague who before May 2015, was the lead advocate for adherence to the rule of law. I speak pointedly of Mr Khemraj Ramjattan. They say, if you want to see the true character of a man – give him power.
I hope the US Ambassador with his commitment to a solid US Constitution that states that “all men are created equal”, will use his influence to walk this entire process back into the realms of the rule of law. Because of Team Granger, Guyana has now broken with that democratic tradition that we as a people had come to be associated with after the Carter Center intervened and paved the way for free and fair elections in 1992.
Yours faithfully,
Sase Singh
