Dear Editor,
An African proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.” The Government chose to go fast and alone in force-feeding the Natural Resource Fund Act on the nation, using its one-seat majority. Despite its sloganeering about “One Guyana,” the PPP’s engine room essentially told the Opposition PNC and civil society representatives asking for more time for consultation, to go to hell. The Vice President said “the key stakeholders, and not organisations without known supporters or members, should lead these advocacy and lobby efforts…that some of these organisations do not have many members or supporters but are sometimes ‘taken seriously’ in Guyana and internationally.” So, how about the PNC representing the large group of 217,920 people who voted for them?” Using your standard, Mr. VP, do they not have a right to ask for consultations? And Mr. VP, where in the Constitution or Article 13, does it have your litmus test that people who speak out must belong to groups with large memberships? Does every citizen not have a right to influence national decision making? Or is it that the groups must be pro-PPP, with mentally lazy “Yes men” and lackeys?”
The PPP won in imposing its bill without any debate, but it ended up being a pyrrhic victory, that may turn out to bite them in a place they don’t want to be bitten. Its unilateralism and triumphalism may hurt them in 2025. The PPP has probably already lost all those crossover votes that catapulted them in the 2020 election. They say, “Be nice to people you pass on your way up. Those might be the same people you see on your way down.” The Government’s propaganda machine was in overdrive to paint the PPP’s Bill as perfect; the PNC as thuggish; PNC as vulgar, defiling Parliament, as the PNC used some protest behaviours, reminiscent of Dr. Jagan in his heyday (see article, “Pandemonium in Parliament” by Anand Persaud, SN, Jan. 15, 1991). When the PPP shut off dialogue and consultation with the people, it became a situation of the PPP Government versus the People of Guyana. The NRF bill was not a contest between the “wicked” PNC and the “saintly” PPP, it was a national issue. The NRF Bill was the “mother of all bills” as it provided the framework for accessing and spending the little money we would have going in to that fund from the pathetic 2% royalty and paltry oil profits.
With all the national patrimony gifted to the oil companies, by both the PNC and PPP, this bill was important to people who want to make sure the NRF would not be looted, as the Auditor General’s reports are all about how billions in the Consolidated Fund have been misappropriated and unaccounted for, in the ongoing fleecing of Guyana. When all the name calling started, the PNC’s retort was to label the Bill as a template for sticky hands to loot the national treasury chanting – “The PPP Thiefing Bill,” “No Thiefing Bill Must Pass.” We have gone fast with this bill but when half of the country thinks it’s a “Thiefing Bill,” we are not going far as a nation. It’s a recipe for more gridlock.
For the Local Content Bill, the PPP showed maturity and took a step towards “One Guyana” and accepted 10 of the 14 amendments proposed by the PNC. Such magnanimity and inclusivity in approach can help us go far as a nation. But in the next breath, the PPP backslid and decided to go it alone come hell or high-water in bullying through its own NRF Bill, and repealing the PNC Bill, refusing to consider the request of the elected Opposition with 31 seats, to hold the bill for national consultations and review. Regardless of whether the PPP thinks the PNC is evil and are election riggers, they won their 31 seats in free and fair elections, and must be accorded due respect. The PNC must also respect that the PPP won fairly, and act with decorum in Parliament.
A petition signed by 64 Guyanese was also filed to parliament by a civic society group – the Policy Forum Guyana, in addition to the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Guyana Bar Association, Trade Union Congress, the Transparency Institute of Guyana, the Article 13 group, and others calling for more consultation, as the Government had not done consultations for its NRF Bill. Nation, why was it so important for the Government side to rush this bill and pass it that night? In leadership, we teach that “the process is as important as the product.” The PPP can pass any bill any time that requires a simple majority as it has a 1-seat majority. So, what would it have cost the PPP to delay the bill by two or three weeks to obtain some consensus, or at least give stakeholders a hearing – a kind of due process and they get credit for being democratic and inclusive. As the proverb says, “If you want to go far, go together!” In the NRF Bill, the PPP went alone, in wanting to go fast, sacrificing the bigger goal of going together as “One Guyana.”
Neither the PNC nor PPP alone can run or rule Guyana! Blogger Bryan says, “If a Government do not listen to the opposition demand for ‘healthy debate and discussion,’ and conduct of parliament is based on ruling parties
wishes alone, what is the alternative for opposition parliamentarians other than obstructionism and sloganeering?” This nation has been fractured for so long with no healing in sight, that people say “Guyana nah gat good…Guyana gone fuh channa.” We are such a rich, lucky nation with an abundance of resources, yet our people have remained poor and destitute for over six decades under both the PNC and PPP. We have become a nation dependent on barrels and foreign remittances, and now we can add hampers and “Because We Care” pittances to that list. We don’t have natural disasters as other countries who have to deal with hurricanes and earthquakes. Our disasters are man-made. They are called PNC and PPP, and there is no end to our misery until a credible third force emerges again. Nation, while we remain a “House Divided,” and renegotiation tarries, Exxon/HESS/CNOOC are dancing all the way to the bank. Instead of fighting the oil companies together for a better oil deal, the PPP and PNC are fighting each other over the NRF while the oil companies’ shareholders are giddy with oil profits from their Guyana investments. Wake up Guyana!
Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Jailall
