As is again demonstrated by the current debacle over the timing of the next elections, like those of the same ilk in the international system – Fiji, Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka – who have so far been unable to settle upon an appropriate constitutional management arrangement that is in tandem with their ethnic nature, Guyana’s political system is highly dysfunctional. Instead of an intensive national effort to properly manage the oil fortune sent its way, everyone is focused upon politics as that resource is draining away. In this quite disturbing context, about two weeks ago a confab of small parties met at the Critchlow Labour College to attempt to establish a big-tent coalition to fight the next elections, and the question immediately arose as to what they can contribute to ending the current political impairment if they succeed in combination or singly.
Here, in the contextual potpourri given below, I consider the following two major difficulties that Guyana must solve if it is to cease being a dysfunctional political state. Firstly, neither conceptually nor actually do the two large ethnic groups want to be managed by any other persons or parties than those chosen by them. Secondly, any political management arrangement that does not accommodate both of the larger ethnicities will, as noted above, lead to massive alienation, weakened national focus and extremely suboptimal political management.
