Elections will not solve the problems which our country has been experiencing for almost 60 years

Dear Editor,

Much anxiety is being created and in some cases being nurtured as we approach the March 21 date which marks the end of the 90 days since the No Confidence Motion was passed in the National Assembly. However, while many of us would like for the Constitution to be upheld, we will not and I repeat; we will not let our country suffer. I know that there is even talk in some corners of civil unrest but I would also like to state that we will NOT let our country descend into civil unrest.

We are undoubtedly in an extremely difficult situation, however, while on the one hand the Constitution must be upheld, we have to find other ways of finding solutions to this major challenge which we now face as a country.

I was born after the sixties but I have heard of the civil unrest during that period. Many of us  have  seen the challenges of countries in the Caribbean struggling to recover after the hurricane season of 2017 or Haiti trying to recover after the earthquake in 2010, or challenges with recovery from the Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami in 2004, challenges in the Middle East. We do not want to experience the consequences of civil unrest again; it is always the poorest of the poor who suffer the most.

We definitely have a serious political and constitutional challenge but do we want to mash up our country to find a solution? Is that necessary at this point? Are we prepared to deal with the consequences and recovery from such? There are three factors to be considered in this matter – the Government factor, the Opposition factor and now we must impose ‘the People’ factor at this point. The people of this country must decide that we will work with our leaders to find a solution to this situation but we will not work with them to hurt our country.

What is interesting, is that, ninety percent of the people I have spoken to and who are talking about civil unrest are economically stable, some of them are very rich, therefore they are not the ones who will suffer if the country descends into unrest, it is the man and woman in the street, the poorest of the poor, who will suffer the most; yet the rich and economically stable are the ones talking about civil unrest.  All of our leaders – those from the APNU, PNCR, PPP/C and AFC, they have all sinned and come short; they have all done wrongs to this country and the people of this country, so while  I agree that the constitution must be upheld, our leaders must start with asking us to forgive them for bringing this nation to the current state that it is in. They created this mess and they must find a way to solve it in a civilized manner.

I challenge our political leaders, ‘ye who is without sin, cast the first stone’. ‘Is the APNU, PNCR, PPP/C or AFC without sin? Then they can go ahead, and cast the first stone. What we would like to request is that our leaders from all of the political parties repent for the wrongs that they have done to us and this country and let’s find a way to move forward together. We MUST find a way to move forward together!

Do we need to have elections now? Will elections solve the problems which our country has been experiencing for almost 60 years? Or should we have a referendum instead, where representatives from the parliamentary parties and others, put a structure in place for a ‘One Party’ Government? Previously, I had stated the period for this government should be five years, however, many persons have indicated that five years would be too long, therefore three years would be better.

Some persons have also indicated that we can have a ‘People’s President’, instead of the person coming from a political party, they can come from outside of the party, which provides them with some degree of autonomy. The current party structure and politics have not yielded the results we want; as a matter of fact it has failed our country for over 50 years, then let’s try a different structure if we are really serious about progressing.

We need to heal, design a sound economic pathway, strengthen our institutions, re-orient the mindset of the  people around a ‘One People, One Nation, One Destiny’ motto; while providing strong national, regional and international leadership. This is our finest hour Guyana.

The three tasks for the ‘One Party’ Government will be to: complete the Constitutional Reform process; develop a sound economic and development policy and mechanisms for its implementation through a consensus approach; and develop a strategy to implement same through institutional reform and mobilizing the society around the policy. My appeal to our people is to please do not let our country descend into civil unrest, please, please; we the people will suffer the most.

Finally, my question is, will elections at this point, really solve our almost 60-year-old problems?   May God’s purpose and will prevail in our beloved country!

Yours faithfully,

Audreyanna Thomas