Dear Editor,
With all due respect to Ms. Sarabo-Halley, I humbly disagree with her thesis. (Her letter SN July 11th).
She places the responsibility to mitigate the intensity of racial politics on the people. She writes: “”It is the people that must demand that the politicians come together and solve this racial tension because if we do not, while we are busy fighting, our patrimony will be lost to us and our future generations”.
People have no power to influence these politicians. None whatsoever. Guyana is a case study where two racial groups are contesting for power. Indian vs African. PNC is nothing but an African party for Africans; PPP, an Indian party for Indians. That’s both perception and reality. Each racial group follows its race-based party. Their logic is compelling – they vote that way to keep out the other raced-based party. They believe their survival depends on it. They are locked in that belief. How do we break out of this deeply rooted racial politics? Quick, easy answer is to outlaw these parties. Who has the power to do that? [The liberal democracies – ABC & EU will not touch this subject].
(1) Take small steps to reduce the power of racial voting. The responsibility lies with the parties, not the people.
Both parties have got to end their race-based rules. Only an Indian can be leader of PPP. Only an African can be leader of PPP. Get rid of that rule. And, people’s consciousness will begin to change. Not overnight but slowly. Trust for the leader of an alternative race will take hold. Cross-racial voting will rise.
(2) Show respect for the rules of democracy.
Accept the results of a FFE (free and fair election). Concede to the winner at 12:00 midnight on the day of election.
(3) Regular turnovers of power will be possible when a sizable pool of Swing/Issues Voters emerge and become enduring.
Sarabo-Halley makes one good, truthful statement. “Our patrimony will be lost” because of the intense form of racial politics practiced in Guyana. She is 100% correct on that.
Here is the proof. Alistair Routledge says ExxonMobil (EM) had been talking to both parties in the run-up to the elections. Both PPP and PNC were deadly afraid that EM would aid their opponent if they declared their support for renegotiation. So, both promised they would not renegotiate. PPP is now in power – and it feels morally obligated to keep its promise. That’s the essence of how racial politics – the intense fight for racial power – can cause Guyana to be cheated out of its fair share of its patrimony.
I do not blame EM. I blame the racial politics of the land. Surely EM exploited the racial politics for its own advantage. For both PPP and PNC, they framed their options as: my chance at winning power vs. getting a Fair Deal Oil Contract. Both chose what they believed was their chance at winning political power.
Both PPP and PNC gave away the country’s resources for a pittance.
On the royalty alone from one Oil Block Guyana is losing $25 billion. Guyana gets a miserly 2%; Suriname 6.25%. Here is the simple Math: 9 billion barrels times $60 a barrel times 4.25% = $25 billion (rounded).
Guyana also loses out on corporate income tax – waiving it for the life of the contract (30+years).
Oil companies pay corporate income tax to Suriname, zero % to Guyana. How did this happen? Apart from the racial politics, our laws are rotten to the core. Guyana’s Parliament never ratified that Oil Contract. Minister Trotman consulted no one and signed away on the dotted line – and the contract becomes legal and binding. And, now the PPP refuses to call for renegotiation. Minister Trotman told the press he had been instructed to sign – this way to ensure his party stays in power. Who instructed him to sign, he never revealed whom.
Sarabo-Halley feeds off the racial politics of the land. She is a member of the PNC. (AFC and WPA are fictional parties – no support among voters).
Yours truly,
Mike Persaud
