THIS HUMBLE PETITION of the undersigned citizens of Guyana, inviting CARICOM to make recommendations to the President and Government of Guyana to meaningfully address issues affecting the well-being of the citizens of Guyana, and, generally, calling on the leaders of our sister Caribbean countries to uphold our shared ideals of freedom, peace and justice by furthering the legitimate aspirations of our people for a society free from debilitating conflict, violence and fear of the future
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITS THAT:
WE, citizens of Guyana, representing various stakeholders, including political parties, social and professional organizations, private business entities and individuals:
CONSCIOUS of the CARICOM Charter of Civil Society for the Caribbean Community, adopted by Heads of Government of CARICOM, on 19 February 1997, especially, Article II - Respect for Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, Article IV – Right to Life, Liberty and Security of the Person and Article VIII – Freedom of Expression and Access to Information;
FULLY AWARE that these fundamental rights are more specifically enshrined in Title I (Articles 139-154 (A)) of the Constitution of Guyana;
MINDFUL of the expressed commitment of CARCIOM Heads of Government, as reflected in the St Lucia Statement, of 2 July 1998, that “CARICOM remains committed to the peaceful settlement of differences and disputes within our region and states”;
FULLY AGREEING with the Objectives, stated in the Hermanston Accord, of “sustained dialogue ... with a view to fostering greater harmony and confidence and resolving issues on which agreement can be reached”;
DEEPLY CONCERNED about the deteriorating crime and security situation, as exemplified by the killing of 8 persons at Agricola Village in 2006, 5 workers of Kaieteur News at Eccles Estate, in August 2006, the recent attacks massacre of innocent civilians at Lusignan, at Bartica, and on members of the Joint Services, which have undermined public safety and national security;
ACKNOWLEDGING CARICOM’s expressed concern for Regional and National security, and noting the recent spiralling prices of food commodities with the destabilizing impact on individual countries;
FULLY AWARE of CARICOM’s commitment to freedom of expression, and access to information, and its respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms, as outlined in the Charter of Civil Society;
RECALLING that Chapter 3 of the National Development Strategy (2001-2010) “Eradicating Poverty and Unifying Guyana”, outlined the implications of Good Governance for Development and stated specifically that, “It is perhaps therefore true to state that if key elements of the strategy that is presented in this Chapter are not implemented, it is most unlikely that the social and economic developmental objectives which have been established as the overall goals of this National Development Strategy, will ever be attained”;
ALSO RECALLING that President Jagdeo and the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Robert Corbin, agreed at Item 9 of their signed Communiqué, of 6 May 2003, that the issues of Inclusive Governance and the National Development Strategy would have been pursued urgently;
AND
NOTING the proposed hosting in Guyana of Carifesta X in 2008;
Hereby bring to the attention of CARICOM Heads of Government, for their consideration, the following matters of concern to citizens of Guyana:
a. The unilateral and arbitrary decision by the President of Guyana, in his capacity as Minister responsible for administering the Wireless and Telegraphy Act, inconsistent with the spirit and letter of the law, to suspend, by a procedure that was manifestly unfair and contrary to natural justice, the license of CNS TV Channel 6, a private local television station, for four months.
This action by the Government is but one example of its continual contumelious and contumacious behaviour, since 2001. There have been:
- threats to, and closure of, HBTV Channel 9;
- threats to, and the undermining of, the economic interests of VCT Channel 28, by forcing the removal of a Lottery Broadcast contract from that station to the state-owned Channel 11 and, later, the cancellation of the TBN religious broadcasts in Guyana which were managed by VCT Channel 28;
- vilification and physical abuse of C.N. Sharma, the owner of CNS TV Channel 6, by the Governing Party’s activists with no redress in the courts; and
- removal of advertisements, by Government, from the privately owned Stabroek News, for more than seventeen (17) months.
The action of the President, in the above-mentioned capacity, is made more objectionable by his total disregard for the Memorandum of Understanding that he had signed, as President, with the late Leader of the Opposition, Mr. H D Hoyte, that established an Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB), the main purpose of which was to ensure that the Minister responsible would act only in accordance with its advice and that that body would be independent and autonomous. There has been no advice, tendered by the ACB, recommending the suspension of CNS TV Channel 6.
b. Prolonged inaction or outright refusal to enact Broadcast Legislation and establish an Independent National Broadcasting Authority, based on the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Radio Monopoly, Non-Partisan Boards and Broadcasting Legislation. The Report and recommendations of the Committee were adopted by the President and the late Leader of the Opposition, Mr H. D. Hoyte, in December 2001. The objective was to ensure that political control over media in Guyana was completely removed.
The effect of the inaction, described above, was compounded further by the breach of a renewed commitment, in the Communiqué of 6 May 2003, signed by President Bharrat Jagdeo and Mr. Robert Corbin, Leader of the Opposition, committing the Government to introduce Broadcasting legislation within four months of that date. Regrettably, approximately five years later, this remains yet another unfulfilled commitment by President Jagdeo.
c. The unlawful appointment of the Integrity Commission by the President, in breach of Section 3 of the Integrity Commission Act No. 20 of 1997. All attempts to have this matter determined by the Courts, over the last four years, have proved futile. The Integrity Commission was established to promote probity in public life.
d. The extension of the life of an improperly constituted Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC), in 2006, by the President, in violation of Article 212 B of the Guyana Constitution. The ERC has its origins in the St Lucia Statement and is one of the mechanisms designed to promote better relations among the various ethnic groups in Guyana.
e. The contempt displayed by the Administration for the fundamental rights of citizens, as illustrated by:
· The arrest and detention of, and the subsequent laying of unsustainable charges of sedition against, Oliver Hinckson, retired Lieutenant of the Guyana Defence Force, (GDF).who has been refused bail while his case has been repeatedly adjourned at the behest of lawyers for the prosecution.
· The arbitrary arrest and detention of citizens on various pretexts – the common practice being to detain persons late on Friday so that they remain in custody for the weekend and are then released on Monday without any charge being brought.
· The use of brutal torture, by the Security Forces, against citizens, including Victor Jones, Patrick Sumner and David Zammett, in contravention of the International Convention Against Torture ratified by the Government.
· The unlawful destruction of property by the security forces, particularly at Buxton where the sanctity of homes has been violated with impunity, personal property wantonly destroyed and farms irreparably damaged.
· The unlawful killings of citizens by the security forces and the disappearance of others without a trace. The most recent examples of unlawful killing are those of Tyrone Pollard of Lot 81 Buxton Sideline Dam and Donna Herod.
f. The reluctance of the Government to commit to the enactment of Freedom of Information Legislation.
g. The domination of the state-owned television and of the monopoly radio station by the ruling Party, excluding all others, and the refusal of the Government to issue licenses for the establishment of private radio stations.
h. The failure of the Administration to provide any concrete measures for
genuine relief to Guyanese workers who are experiencing severe hardship, caused by the spiralling cost of living, with an inflation rate of 34% in 2007 and the increase in wages of only 9%, while the Administration expends limited financial resources for social extravaganza of lesser import. We believe that the VAT could be significantly reduced as a short term relief measure.
i. The refusal of the Government to proceed with consultations on Inclusive Governance, notwithstanding their commitment to do so, as expressed in the Communiqué, signed on 6 May 2003, and their acceptance of the National Development Strategy (NDS) of 2000 which emphasized good governance as a prerequisite for national development.
j. The apparent reluctance by the Government to pursue the implementation of the Guyana Security Reform Plan in a holistic manner which includes, inter alia:
i. “Linking Police Reform with actions in other areas of the security sector;
ii. “Strong linkages in particular with the ongoing programmes in Justice Reform and Citizen Security;
iii. “A need to address the root causes of criminal and political violence: poverty and unemployment..”
NOW THEREFORE WE, THE PETITIONERS, humbly pray that the Heads of Government of CARICOM would be pleased to accept this Petition and to carefully consider the matters herein carefully in the light of the stated CARICOM objectives for the Region and for Member States, AND, in accordance with those considerations, to:
A. MAKE recommendations to the President and Government of Guyana to address meaningfully the issues, including:
§ the removal of the suspension of the license of CNS TV Channel 6, owned by C N Sharma;
§ the withdrawal of sedition charges against Oliver Hinckson and his immediate release from custody;
§ the urgent enactment of Broadcast Legislation, based on the recommendations, contained in the Final Report of the Joint Committee on Radio Monopoly, Non-Partisan Boards and Broadcasting Legislation, submitted, on 7 December 2001, and adopted by President Jagdeo the late Leader of the Opposition, Mr H.D. Hoyte;
§ the licensing of private radio stations;
§ equitable access, by Parliamentary Parties, to the state-owned media;
§ the re-constitution of the Integrity Commission in accordance with the Integrity Commission Act No. 20 of 1997;
§ an immediate end to the denial of the fundamental rights of the citizens of Guyana as illustrated herein; and
§ the immediate enactment of the Freedom of Information Legislation.
B. Generally, use CARICOM’s collective influence in relation to Guyana’s affairs to facilitate the creation of an environment of peace and social stability, particularly as it relates to the advancement of the issue of Inclusive Governance/Shared Governance in Guyana, as a necessary prerequisite for progress, development and the security of Guyana and its citizens.
AND YOUR PETITIONERS IN DUTY BOUND WILL EVER PRAY
SIGNATORIES TO PETITION FROM CITIZENS OF GUYANA
TO CARICOM HEADS OF GOVERNMENT INVITING CONSIDERATION ON ISSUES AFFECTING GUYANA:
Please leave you Name and Organisation so that we express your support for this endeavour to Caricom.
Name Organisation
……………………………….. …………………………………
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
What about a polygraph test, Mr. President? by Khemraj Ramjattan
The recent surge of demonstrations sponsored by the PNC, especially coming so soon after being paid $100 million, did not surprise me. And surely it did not surprise the President and the PPP.Being once an insider in Jagdeo’s PPP, and being discerning enough to comprehend the sometimes muddled machinations from its calculating cabal, has taught me that the PPP’s giving is always an investment, and its tears are very often crocodile.So the President will behave as if he is surprised that the PNC has taken to the streets so irresponsibly after his big handout to that party. And he will shed some crocodile tears pretending that he means what he says when he says: “It would have been better had we supported the AFC in getting a proportion of the scrutineers’ monies.”When His Excellency was putting his best face forward on these matters at his press conference, I was shouting loudly: “How about a polygraph test Mr. President; to test whether you really mean what you’re publicly pronouncing?” You may have noticed that I deleted the expletives.I am aware of a couple of instances where this President would have failed a polygraph test. One such was the occasion when he said in front of my face at a PPP Central Committee meeting that I was a carrier of information to the American Embassy and the Press; and, later denied ever saying so. He even got 29 signatures to toe his line. Thank God there was a Moses who heard him distinctly saying so. Moses Nagamootoo has since been paying the penalty for hearing, and not being the 30th signatory.I hope this brings an end to the debate on polygraph tests ever being used to qualify persons for public office.The top brass of the PPP knows very well that this Government is taking a licking from even its own members. There is a massive vexation about the high food prices, the unbearable criminality in every category – against the person, against property and even against the State, the rapid impoverishment of large sections of our communities, and the arrogance and ignorance exhibited by Senior Government Officials in coming to grips with all this.A diversion is needed to take the PPP’s members and supporters’ minds off these hardships. The wranglings and rumblings within its own rank and file were occurring recently at Port Mourant, Rose Hall, Canje, Bath Settlement, Lusignan and New Amsterdam, as is well known. Persons protesting a multitude of grievances in PPP strongholds were being fired on with shots and teargas. Unbelievable you would think. Moreover, some were being violently arrested and locked up and charged.What does the PPP do? Create a diversion. What better diversion could there be to neutralize such internal crises, and such disunity within the PPP’s ranks and strongholds, than to see the PNC marchers breaking police barriers, causing a shut down at Parliament, and burning effigies in front of Parliament.How could this be done? Pay the PNC leaders some monies - a lil $100M. And as a leading insider would say: “Comrade you gon see how this payout gon payoff.”And it did. $100M of taxpayers’ monies was invested through the so called benevolence of the Jagdeo Government, intended for scrutineers, but cleverly to procure PNC antics in Georgetown’s main streets. Once the monies were paid out, the PPP well knew that this was going to happen, like night follows day. The PPP told its NCN camera-men to be prepared for it. These cameras from NCN were in full force taping and recording every detail. And later NCN was thereafter in full blast, broadcasting right up to 2 am especially in Berbice and Essequibo how PNC attacked Parliament. Yes - it twisted the story a little for the rural people. This happened for most of the prime time for the next three nights in Berbice and Essequibo particularly, and even in Demerara.And as was predicted, the priorities of the Babulalls and Beharrys got tangential if not wholly askew. The PPP is brilliant in doing what they do – spend the State’s money and get political mileage even though such a spending is obscene as this. The PNC cannot be restrained from doing what they do – march straight into the PPP’s trap and get burnt. Then the cussdown starts - Luncheon versus Aubrey Norton, Jagdeo versus Corbin. This will go on for another month. In the meantime, the Babulalls and Beharrys abandon any further deliberation on how rotten the PPP Government is as fear drives them back into camp, having seen the PNC’s outbursts live in the safety of their homes. This will go on until both the members and supporters of the PPP and PNC realize that there is every need for a politics of change. Liberation in Guyana will now mean a breaking of the shackles from the PNC and PPP. A blind fanaticism driven largely by fear must yield to reason. Only when reason prevails will there be a genuine democracy. Such a democracy includes not only free and fair elections, but also good governance and the rule of law.This kind of PPP politics which is played out in Guyana today has deleterious effects on senior officials who are to referee the system. They too get taken in by these obscenities, these deformities.This happened to the officials at GECOM. Remember how GECOM, through Mr. Boodhoo, said GECOM is not involved in the distribution of monies for scrutineers, much less to apportion it proportionately. “We have no mandate to deal with these money issues” was what Mr. Boodhoo was telling us in the AFC, even in the face of a court order. Ask Patterson and Franklin. Today from all the reports and statements from President Jagdeo and Roger Luncheon and even Robert Corbin it was GECOM which approved the payment of $100M each to the PPP and PNC Chief Scrutineers.It does appear that GECOM officials too may not be able to pass a polygraph test.GECOM miscounted, in the last general elections, the votes of the AFC in Region 10 to deny us our sixth seat in Parliament. It now has misconstrued its legal authority causing the AFC to be denied approximately $21M. It would not be out of place to mount a campaign to demand locally, regionally and internationally the resignation of these jagabats in GECOM. They, it seems at least to the AFC, are neither numerate nor literate.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Our Local Democratic System fails the people of Guyana. by Michael Carrington
In Guyana, power greedy politicians have ensured the continued failure of the state to implement an inclusionary democracy, as is stated and required in Article 13 of our constitution. This failure is visible every day in the operation of our local neighbourhood democratic organ across Guyana which cannot mange themselves properly. The government has refused to truly implement local democracy, which would give the people full power to manage themselves.
Our constitution in words decentralizes the system of governance, by giving the local democratic neighbourhood councils the power to manage designated regions, towns and villages. The government is the one who continues to refuse to make these local democratic organs financially independent and therefore viable. It is clear that our country will not be managed properly if government continues to be greedy and refuses to financially empower these local democratic organs. Today our system is not working and it is the people of Guyana who are shortchanged and continue to suffer. This PPP Government are so consumed by this power that they are now attempting to make laws which will remove the Regional Executive Officer from being appointed by the Local Government Commission, which would be a violation of our constitution.
The Government has also deliberately refused to establish the Local Government Commission so that they can employ their party members as REO’s and have control over the financial resources of the Region. Parliament’s inability to establish this commission and to entrust the Regional Democratic Councils, who were elected by the people to manage the region is another serious failure which hinders the system.
The RDC’s must be charged with the power to employ, discipline or dismiss and the Courts must also have the power to reinstate any person who is dismissed wrongfully. The current trend that allows the Minister to hold power and dictate the operation of the commission is undemocratic. The old laws which give the Minister the power over these organs are now invalid given the amendment of the Constitution which made our local democratic organs autonomous. These organs are accountable to the people and the State and only the people through their representatives have the power over these organs, so let the people exercise it! When the Council fails in this regard the system must follow the laws of our land and ensure that our constitution is not violated.
For these organs to function properly the State must treat their Councillors with respect and as a paid servant of the state. The present Chairman of the NDC gets $5000 a month and the RDC Councillor gets $10,000. Most of these committees are not working because they are no incentives to work. A committed Councillor working hard to make a change cannot even get back his or her own money when you invest it to do RDC work in a timely manner, you are forced to wait for month. I had to move a motion for a better financial incentive for Councillor to work which was passed by the RDC of Region 4 on the 19 of December 2007, but they is no reply by the government. If these committees do not work, then the RDC cannot function properly as it is these committees, who do all checks and balances and report to the RDC.
We do not and should not have to wait until Local Government elections to put good systems in place.
Looking at crime I must say to my fellow Guyanese that it is a sad time for our people. Evil seems to be spreading in the minds of our people and our leaders in Government just don't know what to do. What they don't understand is that crime begins in the mind and it is only the mind that can stop the crime and poverty.
This is the essence of crime, crime starts in the home when they is no food to eat and fathers and mothers are not around to guide their children in the right direction, because both of them have to work, or they themselves do not have the knowledge and skills to guide they children in the right direction.
Most of our people are not educated to work in our current environment. Our education system does not look at our natural resources and educate person along those lines. Many of our young people out of school just don't know what to do because they come out of school with just the academic qualifications, lacking the skills to create jobs for themselves. They are too dependent on the state to create job for them. They find themselves waiting for years to find the perfect job creating a financial liability for the family in the process. Thousands of self employment opportunities exist, but these job opportunities are in the area of skilled trades, in which whatever you produce as long as the product is good, it will sell. Our main problem is the skills trade and marketing.
We need to educate our people in this direction. Our people also have to understand that when they get a job with a firm or company it is their duty to work to develop it because they earn from it. The business may not be yours but you still have to treat it as if it is. If the business fails then you have no job so any place we work it is our duty to see thing go aright. The only way out of poverty is to work so let us create people power for the development of our country. Do not allow the Government to do as they feel. Know your rights. Fight them in the Courts, the Court must work some times.
Our constitution in words decentralizes the system of governance, by giving the local democratic neighbourhood councils the power to manage designated regions, towns and villages. The government is the one who continues to refuse to make these local democratic organs financially independent and therefore viable. It is clear that our country will not be managed properly if government continues to be greedy and refuses to financially empower these local democratic organs. Today our system is not working and it is the people of Guyana who are shortchanged and continue to suffer. This PPP Government are so consumed by this power that they are now attempting to make laws which will remove the Regional Executive Officer from being appointed by the Local Government Commission, which would be a violation of our constitution.
The Government has also deliberately refused to establish the Local Government Commission so that they can employ their party members as REO’s and have control over the financial resources of the Region. Parliament’s inability to establish this commission and to entrust the Regional Democratic Councils, who were elected by the people to manage the region is another serious failure which hinders the system.
The RDC’s must be charged with the power to employ, discipline or dismiss and the Courts must also have the power to reinstate any person who is dismissed wrongfully. The current trend that allows the Minister to hold power and dictate the operation of the commission is undemocratic. The old laws which give the Minister the power over these organs are now invalid given the amendment of the Constitution which made our local democratic organs autonomous. These organs are accountable to the people and the State and only the people through their representatives have the power over these organs, so let the people exercise it! When the Council fails in this regard the system must follow the laws of our land and ensure that our constitution is not violated.
For these organs to function properly the State must treat their Councillors with respect and as a paid servant of the state. The present Chairman of the NDC gets $5000 a month and the RDC Councillor gets $10,000. Most of these committees are not working because they are no incentives to work. A committed Councillor working hard to make a change cannot even get back his or her own money when you invest it to do RDC work in a timely manner, you are forced to wait for month. I had to move a motion for a better financial incentive for Councillor to work which was passed by the RDC of Region 4 on the 19 of December 2007, but they is no reply by the government. If these committees do not work, then the RDC cannot function properly as it is these committees, who do all checks and balances and report to the RDC.
We do not and should not have to wait until Local Government elections to put good systems in place.
Looking at crime I must say to my fellow Guyanese that it is a sad time for our people. Evil seems to be spreading in the minds of our people and our leaders in Government just don't know what to do. What they don't understand is that crime begins in the mind and it is only the mind that can stop the crime and poverty.
This is the essence of crime, crime starts in the home when they is no food to eat and fathers and mothers are not around to guide their children in the right direction, because both of them have to work, or they themselves do not have the knowledge and skills to guide they children in the right direction.
Most of our people are not educated to work in our current environment. Our education system does not look at our natural resources and educate person along those lines. Many of our young people out of school just don't know what to do because they come out of school with just the academic qualifications, lacking the skills to create jobs for themselves. They are too dependent on the state to create job for them. They find themselves waiting for years to find the perfect job creating a financial liability for the family in the process. Thousands of self employment opportunities exist, but these job opportunities are in the area of skilled trades, in which whatever you produce as long as the product is good, it will sell. Our main problem is the skills trade and marketing.
We need to educate our people in this direction. Our people also have to understand that when they get a job with a firm or company it is their duty to work to develop it because they earn from it. The business may not be yours but you still have to treat it as if it is. If the business fails then you have no job so any place we work it is our duty to see thing go aright. The only way out of poverty is to work so let us create people power for the development of our country. Do not allow the Government to do as they feel. Know your rights. Fight them in the Courts, the Court must work some times.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Sharma now….who next ?
Guyana once again bleeds. This time not from marauding gunmen wantonly shooting at innocent civilians, but from an assault on the tenets of natural justice by the President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo. His unilateral decision to sit in judgment in a matter for which he was the subject of the complaint demonstrates a blatant disregard for fairness and equal treatment before the law. The Alliance For Change strongly condemns this disregard for the rule of law and this threat to the basic principles of democracy.
Strict adherence to the Rule of Law, Natural Justice and Fairness is the lifeblood of any democracy. It stands as the most important right in any community of men and women. It is that right which establishes and enhances the dignity of all people. The Government’s action was clearly intended to remove all forms of independent expression. This continues with access to our “national TV station” paid for by all Guyanese taxpayers, denied to opposition political parties and ordinary Guyanese. This continues in communities like Linden where choice is limited to the government TV station and where independent TV stations are repeatedly prevented from providing a service to this area. This censorship continues in government’s refusal to allow freedom of expression through the issuing of radio licenses. Where else in the Caribbean will you find one state run radio station in this age of communication!. Are the PPP afraid of competition? Is the right to different views and freedom of information not the basis of any true democracy? Such action by any Government therefore must be condemned and denounced.
This event is the latest on a long list of incidents that demonstrate the abuse of power and corrupt practices which have taken place in Guyana within the last week. These including the recent Fidelity/GRA fiasco and the helicopter scam which has seen the questionable expenditure of $300 Million of hard earned Guyanese taxpayer dollars. This is but a vindication of what the AFC has been saying namely that the PPP Jagdeo Government is on a slide back into dictatorship reminiscent of the worst days of the PNC Government.
The Alliance For Change maintains that the President is the one who contravened the Rule of Law when he usurped the function of the ACB, acted contrary to Regulation 10 of 2001 of the Telegraphy Regulations, and then decided to be a Judge in his own cause. It is as shameful as it is unlawful. The Alliance For Change sees this closure not only as an exhibition of unlawfulness and arrogance, and with the purpose to drive fear in the minds of critics, but also to divert attention from the rampant corruption and security crises which rage in our unhappy country.
Strict adherence to the Rule of Law, Natural Justice and Fairness is the lifeblood of any democracy. It stands as the most important right in any community of men and women. It is that right which establishes and enhances the dignity of all people. The Government’s action was clearly intended to remove all forms of independent expression. This continues with access to our “national TV station” paid for by all Guyanese taxpayers, denied to opposition political parties and ordinary Guyanese. This continues in communities like Linden where choice is limited to the government TV station and where independent TV stations are repeatedly prevented from providing a service to this area. This censorship continues in government’s refusal to allow freedom of expression through the issuing of radio licenses. Where else in the Caribbean will you find one state run radio station in this age of communication!. Are the PPP afraid of competition? Is the right to different views and freedom of information not the basis of any true democracy? Such action by any Government therefore must be condemned and denounced.
This event is the latest on a long list of incidents that demonstrate the abuse of power and corrupt practices which have taken place in Guyana within the last week. These including the recent Fidelity/GRA fiasco and the helicopter scam which has seen the questionable expenditure of $300 Million of hard earned Guyanese taxpayer dollars. This is but a vindication of what the AFC has been saying namely that the PPP Jagdeo Government is on a slide back into dictatorship reminiscent of the worst days of the PNC Government.
The Alliance For Change maintains that the President is the one who contravened the Rule of Law when he usurped the function of the ACB, acted contrary to Regulation 10 of 2001 of the Telegraphy Regulations, and then decided to be a Judge in his own cause. It is as shameful as it is unlawful. The Alliance For Change sees this closure not only as an exhibition of unlawfulness and arrogance, and with the purpose to drive fear in the minds of critics, but also to divert attention from the rampant corruption and security crises which rage in our unhappy country.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
WHY IS THE GOVERNMENT UPSET WITH VENEZUELA? by Raphael Trotman
Of all the things that the Government of Guyana could be expressing outrage at, they have decided to register a protest over Venezuela’s decision to donate food and supplies to the people of Buxton. Once again these goodly people of Buxton are caught up in a political game which they did not invite on themselves. Once before they were caught in a tense diplomatic incident which almost led to the deployment of US troops in the village when the US Embassy’s Regional Security Officer was kidnapped in what was dubbed the “Lesniak affair”. Today it is the food affair. The donation by the Venezuelan Embassy was of food stuff and targeted specifically at displaced Buxton farmers who are unable to access their farm lands.
There is hypocrisy on all sides. This is the same government that has recently misled the nation regarding the facts surrounding the purchase of helicopters; that has declared Buxton to be the venomous nest of all the criminals in Guyana and has failed to deliver any criminals after launching Operation Restore Order; that has shielded Ministers of the Government from prosecution for public disorder; that has been less than honest about the reason why there has been no enquiry into the death of Walter Rodney; that has proclaimed that there is no evidence of corruption or discrimination and marginalization in Guyana; and that has proclaimed that GPL is in good shape and is not in need of an investigation. This is the pot calling the kettle black.
The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela was obviously insensitive, and deliberately provocative, in making a donation to the people of Buxton without first informing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is so because of the known security complexities that exists both between our two states, and with regard to Buxton itself. But was this gift such a serious breach of protocol after all, or is it that the Government of Guyana is more embarrassed that a foreign government is providing aid which it refuses to offer to its own citizens? Venezuela has been doling out aid and assistance all over South America and even in the United States where it has run a successful programme through the Venezuelan State owned oil company CITGO, which provides heating fuel to underprivileged people of America every winter. In fact, after rampant poverty and social inequality were exposed by Hurricane Katrina there is absolutely nothing that the US government can and will do to stop the programme. An elderly African-American woman who benefited from the CITGO programme says in a testimonial on their website “Until this program came along, I was using my gas stove and oven to heat my house. The fuel oil I'll get through CITGO and Catholic Charities will be a big savings. It'll tide me over for the rest of the winter."
Where there are underprivileged people with real needs, others will step in either with purely altruistic motives, or with some hidden agenda. Every day, I see different Embassies and their associated agencies giving aid and assistance to NGOs, individuals, and to Government agencies without a murmur from our Government. Foreign governments are helping with the reintegration of deportees to society, the making of traffic signs, and the establishment of cold storage facilities for big businesses without any fuss from the Guyana government. The big question then to be asked is what is it about the Venezuelan gift that has so upset the Jagdeo government? It must be that this gift will highlight the suffering of the Buxtonian people in an international way that will drive home the point that Guyana’s security dilemma is caught up in poverty, ethnic cleavages and insecurities, a bad system of governance that allows the perpetuation of these, and of bad governance itself.
Anyone who has walked the streets and dams of Buxton would know what a besieged community feels like. On a recent visit I remarked that it is the closest that I personally have come to a community that is subdued and lifeless. There was dead quiet, no dogs barking, no children playing in the streets, no music or cricket on the radio to be heard- just silence and an army vehicle with ranks filming every step members of our team took. Can you image meeting a 32 year old resident of the community, whose house was no more than a twenty minute walk from the railway embankment road and he has never had running water in the home he grew up in and still lives in today!
The people of Buxton deserve far more than handouts of food and if some friends come along and offer it to them, they are quite entitled to accept the relief. This intervention by the Venezuelan government has embarrassed the Government of Guyana because it has exposed several facts including, that there is a genuine need within the Buxton/Friendship communities, and that the heavy presence of the military and the bulldozing of the backlands and the compensation of a few hundred dollars for bearing plants is suffocating the lives of the people there. What the Government is doing is killing the spirit of a proud, capable, and strong community. Instead of complaining, they should be embarrassed into leading the way.
The Venezuelan government puts up no pretense of its obvious intentions to displace the United States’ influence in this Hemisphere, and we all have to guard against receiving “gift horses” from any nation that could someday come alive and run rampant through our state. The cold war may be over but there is the growing influence of Venezuela seeking to act as a countervailing force against the United States of America. I have often cautioned that if we are ignored by the Western States for meeting our security and social needs then others will quickly fill the vacuum. The words of the Venezuelan Ambassador as reported in one newspaper sums up his Government’s intentions thus: “Our support does not always have to be food, we can provide things to help you produce and help in the social development of the people”.
Our advantage of being the only English Speaking nation with a small population occupying natural wealth of immeasurable value, will make us a pawn in this latest battle for influence and control of scarce resources such as oil and water.
However, because we have no discernable Foreign Policy doctrine governing our relations with Venezuela and other neighbours, this government has left itself exposed for these interventions to be made. For many years members of the Opposition have been pressing the Government of Guyana to adumbrate in precise terms what is the official policy towards Venezuela. We seem to prefer to operate in a holding pattern by not wanting to enrage our neighbour even in the face of serious transgressions such as when Persram Persaud was shot in the Cuyuni River two years ago and two dredges were recently blown up. It is always one of playing things down. This may explain for example why no official claim was made for compensation for the family of Persram Persaud or the dredge owners.
I for one am very suspicious of Venezuela’s motives and conduct towards Guyana and do not regard that government as Guyana’s best friend, but today, I have to say thank you not only for the gifts, but also for exposing the unmet needs of one of many communities. The Government of Guyana was better off making a quiet protest to the Venezuelan Ambassador rather than embarrassing itself and the citizens further by making it public. Unfortunately, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs had to get her hands burnt on the first day of the job over the ineptitude and mismanagement of other government ministries and agencies.
In closing, I wish to congratulate the new Minister of Foreign Affairs Mrs. Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, and her successor at the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs Ms. Pauline Campbell-Sukhai. I have worked in Parliament with these women for many years and found them to be hard working and dedicated to Guyana even though we don’t see eye to eye on many matters. All women in Guyana should be proud. For Carolyn Rodrigues in particular, I wish to say that I hold her in high esteem and would be less than honest if I did not express my view that I harbour strong reservations as to her capacity to discharge the duties required of this office especially for a small, vulnerable, and sometimes threatened state such as Guyana. I hope she is up to the challenges and snares of foreign affairs and foreign policy management especially when other members of the cabinet will make her job increasingly impossible to complete. Nevertheless I say to her good luck and best wishes and I look forward to engaging her in the parliamentary arena.
There is hypocrisy on all sides. This is the same government that has recently misled the nation regarding the facts surrounding the purchase of helicopters; that has declared Buxton to be the venomous nest of all the criminals in Guyana and has failed to deliver any criminals after launching Operation Restore Order; that has shielded Ministers of the Government from prosecution for public disorder; that has been less than honest about the reason why there has been no enquiry into the death of Walter Rodney; that has proclaimed that there is no evidence of corruption or discrimination and marginalization in Guyana; and that has proclaimed that GPL is in good shape and is not in need of an investigation. This is the pot calling the kettle black.
The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela was obviously insensitive, and deliberately provocative, in making a donation to the people of Buxton without first informing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is so because of the known security complexities that exists both between our two states, and with regard to Buxton itself. But was this gift such a serious breach of protocol after all, or is it that the Government of Guyana is more embarrassed that a foreign government is providing aid which it refuses to offer to its own citizens? Venezuela has been doling out aid and assistance all over South America and even in the United States where it has run a successful programme through the Venezuelan State owned oil company CITGO, which provides heating fuel to underprivileged people of America every winter. In fact, after rampant poverty and social inequality were exposed by Hurricane Katrina there is absolutely nothing that the US government can and will do to stop the programme. An elderly African-American woman who benefited from the CITGO programme says in a testimonial on their website “Until this program came along, I was using my gas stove and oven to heat my house. The fuel oil I'll get through CITGO and Catholic Charities will be a big savings. It'll tide me over for the rest of the winter."
Where there are underprivileged people with real needs, others will step in either with purely altruistic motives, or with some hidden agenda. Every day, I see different Embassies and their associated agencies giving aid and assistance to NGOs, individuals, and to Government agencies without a murmur from our Government. Foreign governments are helping with the reintegration of deportees to society, the making of traffic signs, and the establishment of cold storage facilities for big businesses without any fuss from the Guyana government. The big question then to be asked is what is it about the Venezuelan gift that has so upset the Jagdeo government? It must be that this gift will highlight the suffering of the Buxtonian people in an international way that will drive home the point that Guyana’s security dilemma is caught up in poverty, ethnic cleavages and insecurities, a bad system of governance that allows the perpetuation of these, and of bad governance itself.
Anyone who has walked the streets and dams of Buxton would know what a besieged community feels like. On a recent visit I remarked that it is the closest that I personally have come to a community that is subdued and lifeless. There was dead quiet, no dogs barking, no children playing in the streets, no music or cricket on the radio to be heard- just silence and an army vehicle with ranks filming every step members of our team took. Can you image meeting a 32 year old resident of the community, whose house was no more than a twenty minute walk from the railway embankment road and he has never had running water in the home he grew up in and still lives in today!
The people of Buxton deserve far more than handouts of food and if some friends come along and offer it to them, they are quite entitled to accept the relief. This intervention by the Venezuelan government has embarrassed the Government of Guyana because it has exposed several facts including, that there is a genuine need within the Buxton/Friendship communities, and that the heavy presence of the military and the bulldozing of the backlands and the compensation of a few hundred dollars for bearing plants is suffocating the lives of the people there. What the Government is doing is killing the spirit of a proud, capable, and strong community. Instead of complaining, they should be embarrassed into leading the way.
The Venezuelan government puts up no pretense of its obvious intentions to displace the United States’ influence in this Hemisphere, and we all have to guard against receiving “gift horses” from any nation that could someday come alive and run rampant through our state. The cold war may be over but there is the growing influence of Venezuela seeking to act as a countervailing force against the United States of America. I have often cautioned that if we are ignored by the Western States for meeting our security and social needs then others will quickly fill the vacuum. The words of the Venezuelan Ambassador as reported in one newspaper sums up his Government’s intentions thus: “Our support does not always have to be food, we can provide things to help you produce and help in the social development of the people”.
Our advantage of being the only English Speaking nation with a small population occupying natural wealth of immeasurable value, will make us a pawn in this latest battle for influence and control of scarce resources such as oil and water.
However, because we have no discernable Foreign Policy doctrine governing our relations with Venezuela and other neighbours, this government has left itself exposed for these interventions to be made. For many years members of the Opposition have been pressing the Government of Guyana to adumbrate in precise terms what is the official policy towards Venezuela. We seem to prefer to operate in a holding pattern by not wanting to enrage our neighbour even in the face of serious transgressions such as when Persram Persaud was shot in the Cuyuni River two years ago and two dredges were recently blown up. It is always one of playing things down. This may explain for example why no official claim was made for compensation for the family of Persram Persaud or the dredge owners.
I for one am very suspicious of Venezuela’s motives and conduct towards Guyana and do not regard that government as Guyana’s best friend, but today, I have to say thank you not only for the gifts, but also for exposing the unmet needs of one of many communities. The Government of Guyana was better off making a quiet protest to the Venezuelan Ambassador rather than embarrassing itself and the citizens further by making it public. Unfortunately, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs had to get her hands burnt on the first day of the job over the ineptitude and mismanagement of other government ministries and agencies.
In closing, I wish to congratulate the new Minister of Foreign Affairs Mrs. Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, and her successor at the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs Ms. Pauline Campbell-Sukhai. I have worked in Parliament with these women for many years and found them to be hard working and dedicated to Guyana even though we don’t see eye to eye on many matters. All women in Guyana should be proud. For Carolyn Rodrigues in particular, I wish to say that I hold her in high esteem and would be less than honest if I did not express my view that I harbour strong reservations as to her capacity to discharge the duties required of this office especially for a small, vulnerable, and sometimes threatened state such as Guyana. I hope she is up to the challenges and snares of foreign affairs and foreign policy management especially when other members of the cabinet will make her job increasingly impossible to complete. Nevertheless I say to her good luck and best wishes and I look forward to engaging her in the parliamentary arena.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
"The National Assembly of the Parliament of Guyana, like the country itself is at the cross roads." by Sheila Holder, MP
The National Assembly of the Parliament of Guyana, like the country itself is at the cross roads. While at one level genuine efforts are being made to attain for this institution the premiere place the Constitution assigns it, insecure forces within the PPP/C are at work retarding those efforts.
Regrettably, in the eyes of citizens this situation has courted not only the belief that the National Assembly is a waste of time but also that efforts made by Members of Parliament generally are of little benefit to them.
Given this perception it should come as no surprise that the AFC has been accused from time to time by various letter writers and columnists of investing too much time in the National Assembly, of failing to understand the political reality that little or nothing could be achieved in the National Assembly given the majoritarian attitude of the governing party, thus warning the AFC was heading for the road of oblivion traversed by other third parties before it;
And more recently, the AFC was accused of betraying the National Stakeholder’s Agreement by walking out of parliament because the Government refused to incorporate in the Motion Article 13 of the Constitution and which item 3 & 4 of the Stakeholder’s agreement with President Jagdeo spoke to – namely: -
Item (3) Convene and activate the Parliamentary Constitutional Reform Committee to address issues presently before it and to examine further areas for constitutional reform;
Item (4) Ensure meaningful and effective participation of civil society in these parliamentary processes.
How could the AFC be accused of betraying the stakeholder’s when, along with the other opposition parliamentary parties, we responded to the invitation of the Prime Minister to propose amendments to the National Stakeholder’s Motion standing in his name and proposed that which items (3) & (4) of the Stakeholder’s statement with President Jagdeo encapsulated in their press release. And when our Representatives, Messrs David Patterson and Everall Franklyn, proposed in discussions with Ms Gail Teixeira on the matter that we go back to the stakeholders for their concurrence with the inclusions we proposed and that were being rejected by the Government?
The reality is there’s a nexus between these Constitutional governance issues we proposed and the public safety and security issues which the stakeholder’s want addressed. A 2007 World Bank study on gun violence stated that with a reduction in crime rates, the Caricom region would see a 5.4% rise in their economy. Given these realities it was incumbent on the AFC as a responsible parliamentary opposition party to jolt the PPPC Government into understanding that the continued misuse of the State media and their refusal to activate Article 13 of the Constitution was thwarting the Constitution, the democratic process and putting us all at further risk.
As a responsible parliamentary party it is also incumbent on us to enlighten Mr. Kenneth Joseph, the General Secretary of FITUG, and citizens who desire to see Guyana take the road to some semblance of democratic stability to ensure that the PPPC Government they elected maintain its part of the social compact to exercise fairly and responsibly, the temporary use of governmental powers which was given to them.
The expression of displeasure with the AFC for ‘walking out of Parliament’ highlights that it is incumbent on civil society to ascertain the truth and not fall prey to the propagandistic misuse of the State media by the PPPC in misrepresenting the facts while acting tyrannically in the National Assembly to give cause for such action; and perhaps others which leaders such as Dr. Cheddie Jagan took when in anger and frustration he threw down the law books and the Mace, a symbol of the Speaker’s authority.
What has FITUG and those who criticized the AFC have to say about the disregard demonstrated for the authority of the Speaker when recently in the National Assembly Ministers Clement Rohee, MP and Ashni Singh, MP challenged his authority? When last Wednesday, March 26 Prime Minister Sam Hinds brazenly vocalized contempt for the National Assembly held by the PPPC Government in their decision to arbitrarily overturn the decision of the National Assembly as per Resolution No. 69 which was passed in the National Assembly two and a half years ago calling for a full and impartial investigation into the death of Dr. Walter Rodney. And further, when he as Prime Minister misrepresented Dr. Patricia Rodney and her children’s position on their desire for Dr. Walter Rodney’s death to be investigated. Now let the ‘Peeping Tom’ and FITUG tell us who is ‘sending the wrong message’ and ‘who should apologise to the Stakeholders’.
As stated in all of its press releases on the matter, the AFC stands firmly committed to honouring the Stakeholder’s Agreement and expect implementation of its specific terms and all consequential matters thereon and remains ready and willing to proceed on the basis of sincerity, trust and respect.
Regrettably, in the eyes of citizens this situation has courted not only the belief that the National Assembly is a waste of time but also that efforts made by Members of Parliament generally are of little benefit to them.
Given this perception it should come as no surprise that the AFC has been accused from time to time by various letter writers and columnists of investing too much time in the National Assembly, of failing to understand the political reality that little or nothing could be achieved in the National Assembly given the majoritarian attitude of the governing party, thus warning the AFC was heading for the road of oblivion traversed by other third parties before it;
And more recently, the AFC was accused of betraying the National Stakeholder’s Agreement by walking out of parliament because the Government refused to incorporate in the Motion Article 13 of the Constitution and which item 3 & 4 of the Stakeholder’s agreement with President Jagdeo spoke to – namely: -
Item (3) Convene and activate the Parliamentary Constitutional Reform Committee to address issues presently before it and to examine further areas for constitutional reform;
Item (4) Ensure meaningful and effective participation of civil society in these parliamentary processes.
How could the AFC be accused of betraying the stakeholder’s when, along with the other opposition parliamentary parties, we responded to the invitation of the Prime Minister to propose amendments to the National Stakeholder’s Motion standing in his name and proposed that which items (3) & (4) of the Stakeholder’s statement with President Jagdeo encapsulated in their press release. And when our Representatives, Messrs David Patterson and Everall Franklyn, proposed in discussions with Ms Gail Teixeira on the matter that we go back to the stakeholders for their concurrence with the inclusions we proposed and that were being rejected by the Government?
The reality is there’s a nexus between these Constitutional governance issues we proposed and the public safety and security issues which the stakeholder’s want addressed. A 2007 World Bank study on gun violence stated that with a reduction in crime rates, the Caricom region would see a 5.4% rise in their economy. Given these realities it was incumbent on the AFC as a responsible parliamentary opposition party to jolt the PPPC Government into understanding that the continued misuse of the State media and their refusal to activate Article 13 of the Constitution was thwarting the Constitution, the democratic process and putting us all at further risk.
As a responsible parliamentary party it is also incumbent on us to enlighten Mr. Kenneth Joseph, the General Secretary of FITUG, and citizens who desire to see Guyana take the road to some semblance of democratic stability to ensure that the PPPC Government they elected maintain its part of the social compact to exercise fairly and responsibly, the temporary use of governmental powers which was given to them.
The expression of displeasure with the AFC for ‘walking out of Parliament’ highlights that it is incumbent on civil society to ascertain the truth and not fall prey to the propagandistic misuse of the State media by the PPPC in misrepresenting the facts while acting tyrannically in the National Assembly to give cause for such action; and perhaps others which leaders such as Dr. Cheddie Jagan took when in anger and frustration he threw down the law books and the Mace, a symbol of the Speaker’s authority.
What has FITUG and those who criticized the AFC have to say about the disregard demonstrated for the authority of the Speaker when recently in the National Assembly Ministers Clement Rohee, MP and Ashni Singh, MP challenged his authority? When last Wednesday, March 26 Prime Minister Sam Hinds brazenly vocalized contempt for the National Assembly held by the PPPC Government in their decision to arbitrarily overturn the decision of the National Assembly as per Resolution No. 69 which was passed in the National Assembly two and a half years ago calling for a full and impartial investigation into the death of Dr. Walter Rodney. And further, when he as Prime Minister misrepresented Dr. Patricia Rodney and her children’s position on their desire for Dr. Walter Rodney’s death to be investigated. Now let the ‘Peeping Tom’ and FITUG tell us who is ‘sending the wrong message’ and ‘who should apologise to the Stakeholders’.
As stated in all of its press releases on the matter, the AFC stands firmly committed to honouring the Stakeholder’s Agreement and expect implementation of its specific terms and all consequential matters thereon and remains ready and willing to proceed on the basis of sincerity, trust and respect.
Friday, March 07, 2008
BUDGET PRESENTATION 2008 - Raphael Trotman
Today I am at pains to debate this budget Mr. Speaker but out of a duty which falls on me as leader of the AFC I rise to make my contribution. I have searched through the pages of the document entitled “Staying the Course: Advancing the Transformation Agenda” and have found little upon which to mount the type of debate that we have unfortunately grown accustomed to. If truth be told Mr. Speaker, I am saddened and numbed by the recent carnage and massacre at Lusignan and Bartica which followed those in Agricola and Eccles in 2006. Again, I express my personal and sincerest condolences to the families of the victims who senselessly lost their lives, and again, as a national political leader, I apologise for my own failings over the years to prevent these occurrences. I am here out of respect for the institution of Parliament, or rather, what is left of it, and the memory of those who died.
Mr. Speaker every year at about this time the government introduces its budget and the opposition members are expected to behave loyally and obediently and feint and parry with the government ministers and others in a satirical theatrical performance that has come to be known as the budget debates. Every year that I have spoken I have asked the question of: what is the benefit of this exercise. I have never seen a debate that adopted any useful suggestions of the opposition which led to substantive changes in the estimates. By the way Mr. Speaker, I reject the usual drivel that this is the way it was under the PNC. If it was nauseating in the 1970s and 1980s then it is more nauseating in the 21st century.
This year, I can say without fear of successful contradiction, that the people are neither amused nor impressed by our behaviour. At the end of this exercise what do we collectively hope to achieve; how is the governance of the country improved; what benefits for social cohesion are derived; do the national indicators show that the people’s perceptions of politicians have improved and that our overall ratings are positive? Hon. Member Mrs. Philomena Sahoye-Shury, a veteran politician by anyone’s description, last night indicated that these were the worst debates in the history of her parliamentary involvement. That statement in itself should tell us something.
Indeed the people expect and deserve better from these debates, but yet the system that compels our presence here expects us to behave as adversaries and to disagree and yet we lament when this very behaviour occurs asking: “why can’t we all get along”…”why can’t we develop this country together.
What would it take for the Minister of Finance or Prime Minister prior to the presentation of a budget to contact the Office of the Leader of the Opposition and other parliamentary parties to ask whether he and or his party and other opposition parties have any specific requests for any of the Regions that they have constituents within. Mr. Speaker we are not getting the point. Minister Kelawan last night says that the RDCs execute the government’s programme not their own.
There is not a day that has gone by that we have not witnessed some terrible senseless killing. Guyanese life has become as Hobbes describes it: “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”, and if I may add, meaningless. Men are killing women, road users are being mowed down, elderly men suffering the ignominy of guarding someone’s property at night instead of being home with their wives and grandchildren and being bludgeoned; and worst of all, little innocent children have now become appropriate targets for extinction.
With this in mind Mr. Speaker I will not enter into a vitriolic attack on any minister, or colleague member on the government side of the House though I will say that I feel tremendous pity and disappointment for some in particular, but instead prefer to use the very limited time available to me to make a few pertinent statements. At the end of my presentation Mr. Speaker I hope, sincerely hope, that I would have been able to convince those gathered here that the size of this budget at $119.3 bln is meaningless unless we can arrest what is a certain descent into madness. I mean no disrespect to the Hon. Minister of Finance, my brother and colleague, or to his staff that worked assiduously to prepare this budget. Relative to the situation that we face since January 26, 2008, I suspect that within a few months unless we dismount and change course, and not stay the course that we are currently on, this document is not going to be worth the paper that it is printed on.
All economic prognoses and forecasts have to be revised in the near and long term. The events which began some years ago and continued on a new plane on January 26 and February 17 have permanently changed the landscape of Guyana socially, legally, politically and of course economically, and whether we are prepared to accept it or not, so too constitutionally. What I found truly amazing Mr. Speaker is the ease and ability of many speakers to express condolences at the events of January and February and then immediately go into boasting about bridges and roads as if to say that these events, these massacres, were aberrations or rippling distortions that have passed their way and will never been seen again. We can never go back to the way we were on the night of January 25, 2008.
What too many of us are not getting is that despite the best efforts made since 1966 this country continues to be divided, and because we are divided we are floundering on the brink of collapse. Every Head of State since then has struggled to govern a rich geographical area of 83,000 sq. miles, and to build a nation from six disparate groups with six cultures, customs, and mores. Too many continue to slip away, and of these, too many have decided, as their country men and women did even when the PNC was the governing party, that they cannot, and will not, be governed by the incumbent party.
With this in mind therefore I wish to proffer the thesis that outside of the increase in the allocation for crime and security in the 2008 budget that the remaining heads are now of little consequence because they are meant to be the spokes in wheel whose hub is disintegrating. Put simplistically as possible, I am saying that unless we get our crime and security situation and good governance platforms in place urgently, there will be schools, buildings, and bridges to spend money on but no people to benefit from them...they all would have left or become consumed in the looming conflagration. We will find ourselves stuck in the slush and filth of the “bottom billion” that Khemraj spoke about.
In this context, statements about bird watching and yachting are now bordering on the sublime and ridiculous. So too are statements about the government building bridges of friendship and social cohesion in the face of the worst massacres in our history barring Jonestown, and so too the unfortunate, uninformed, and uneducated statements made about the etiological or root causes of crime and insecurity and the catalysts which drive and accelerate them.
By way of example Mr. Speaker I will refer this Honourable House to two sectors to show the debilitating impact that the incidents of January 26 and February 17 have already had.
Tourism
Recent advisories issued by two very influential governments have put paid to the plans to develop the sector effectively at least in the near to medium term. The images of bodies slaughtered and piled in a boat like swine for guests of Baganara and the world to see, and the diatribe on NCN in the days which followed ensured that the local components were put in place to ensure that our tourism sector will be on its knees for many, many years.
National Security and Territorial Integrity
It is beyond a doubt that the twin matters of Foreign Affairs and National Security have been jeaporised by the ongoing criminal and terroristic activity in Guyana. As has already been pointed out, very little is being given to meet the needs of the military to take care of external and transnational threats. We need only to be reminded of the discovery of an 1100 meter airstrip in the Corentyne River, the incidents at Eterinbang and the Cuyuni River where Persram Persaud was killed and a year later, the destruction of two dredges by Venezuelan military detachments; the movement of narcotics and weapons across our borders, and of course heinous acts of piracy which continue daily, to know that the security forces cannot fight on two fronts at the same time. The argument is that we are having to invest more and more on internal security and will do so to the detriment of our external affairs and the protection of our territorial integrity.
It is a known fact that following the UN Law of the Sea Arbitral Award that there will be increased activity on in the EEZ for the exploration of oil and gas as Repsol of Spain and CGX are expected to explore and drill yet there is a weakening of our diplomatic and military effort to protect the gains that we have received. Scarce resources have to be diverted to the civilian policing matters. Already this week we have seen enhanced activity on the borders of Columbia by Venezuela and Ecuador relative to the operations of and against FARC. I need not ask whether we are prepared.
In the areas of crime and security and justice I wish to focus or to use an Americanism “focus in”
My views are well known as to what we are beginning to see signs of a burgeoning insurgency. I will develop this argument later on. In a letter dated February 4, 2008, addressed to his Excellency the President I informed him that “It is obvious that a group of Guyanese (or non-state actors) has decided to defy the authority of the State and are prepared to unleash unprecedented mayhem in our society as witnessed last Saturday January 26, 2007 in Lusignan, East Coast Demerara. This is a serious problem that has serious consequences for the national security, cohesiveness, and viability of the State of Guyana and cannot be left unattended. The recent events cannot be dismissed as mere criminal activity coming from any particular enclave of our society.” The high incidence of dissatisfaction, despair and disgust is pervasive as was witnessed firsthand by some members of the Cabinet who braved the angry residents of Lusignan and Mon Repos immediately after the slaughter.
Besides holding arms and issuing joint communiqués we must go further and deeper. This is not merely about power sharing or shared governance but something deeper and more far reaching. It is about making a last attempt to prevent the collapse of the nation state we call Guyana. It transcends issues as to who occupies ministries and departments and goes to the manner in which we educate, empower, encourage and elevate our people especially our youth to ensure that we do not leave a broken for them.
The fact that our present crop of criminals whether called: sycophants, terrorists, insurgents, guerrillas, or whatever label we use are of the average age of 18 and that some like “Nasty Man” are almost babes in arms, tells us that the seeds of this crop were planted within the last 15 years, or for those who do not understand, or don’t want to understand, under the period of governance of the PPP/C administration. These are the manifestations, unwanted and as offensive as they are, of a bad system of governance, and of bad governance itself.
Mr. Speaker, with each passing year I am becoming more convinced that Guyana’s mal-performance is a function of its colonial past. The greatest paradox of our time is that it is to that past that we must return if we are to have a future. Renowned professor of political science and international relations Kalevi Holsti in his work “The State, War, and the State of War” describes Guyana and a few other states thus:
“The colonial state’s main purposes had nothing to do with preparation for ultimate statehood, and everything to do with economic exploitation, building some infrastructure and communication, settling migrants, organizing plantation agriculture, introducing extraction of surplus through taxes, organizing some semblance of lower-level education and religious activity, and providing “law and order” so that these tasks could go on unhindered…From the beginning, then, the territorial limits of the colonies had little or nothing to do with the economic practices, identification, or the political organization of indigenous populations.
The colonial territorial unit bore little or no relationship to any pre-colonial ethnic, religious, political, social, or religious communities or political systems”
And so the leaders for freedom took over the colonial state; alternative forms of political organization, such as a return to traditional modes of governance, federations, or continent-wide units, lost all popularity and thus significant discussion. The colonial state, an organism that left legacies primarily of arbitrary boundaries, bureaucracy, and the military, was taken over by leaders who believed that they could go on to create real nations and master the new state. Some succeeded. Many failed, and it is these failures that have led to wars of a third kind.
These wars euphemistically referred to as being of the “third kind” are your coup d’ etats, insurgencies, terrorist activities, organized criminality, and death squads.
The military scholar Martin Van Creveld recognized this sometime ago in his treatise aptly entitled “the Transformation of war”. “There are no strategies and tactics. Innovation, surprise, and unpredictability are necessities and virtues. The weak must rely on guile, and often crime, to raise funds for the bombings, assignations, and massacres. Prisoners are used as hostages to extract political gains; terrorist’s incidents are designed to make publicity, not to defeat an enemy armed force. Terror is used to cow the timid, the “collaborators”, and the indifferent. The clear distinction between, the armed forces, and the society that is the hallmark of institutionalized war dissolves in “peoples’ war.”
The weak state is caught in a vicious circle. It does not have the resources to create legitimacy by providing security and other services. In its attempt to find strength, it adopts predatory and kleptocratic practices or plays upon and exacerbates social tensions between the myriads of communities that make up the society. Everything it does to become a strong state actually perpetuates its weakness.
This is known as the state-strength dilemma.
Four Responses to State-Strength Dilemma
Individuals and groups engage in quietism—say and do nothing and hope that the cloud of death will not stop at their doors.
Exit either through migration abroad or joining the underground economy-drugs, smuggling, graft/runnings. In 1992 the number migrating were estimated to be 20,000 annually. Recent estimates suggest that the rate of migration is 7 per 1000 annually and this is expected to rise to 10 per 1000 by 2010 (US AID 2006 Report on Guyana Economic Opportunities)
Giving Voice-Speaking out. This is considered the most dangerous of the four options. Government sponsored death squads or special army units, eliminate opposition leaders and a good portion of their sympathizers. Opposition often leads to torture, prolonged detention, and reprisals against family members.
Resistance becomes violent. It can take several forms, including conspiracy, attempted coups, rebellion, intercommunal war, and the ultimate challenge to state legitimacy, and the right to rule.
I have sought to set out the descent into collapse and anarchy that has begun to face us. I hope that it has had a chilling effect. No amount of spin can change what the experts have already determined is taking place in Guyana. What do we do? No one hearing these words can deny that every stage of the descent is palpably present in Guyana. In fact I make bold to say that we have arrived at stage 4. There is no 5th or lower stage to go to. This is it.
Some Recommendations Applied Elsewhere:
Continuous holding of “free and fair” elections with the intention that these will lead to the establishment of new modes of political competition in which individuals and communal groups attain prospects for gaining access to decision-making and to the distribution of government services. However in a society characterized by strong ethnic and/or religious cleavages elections tend to become no more than censuses through which majorities and minorities become permanent. Equal opportunity for access to decisions and government allocations then become difficult and, as has often been shown in practice, even impossible. Democratic institutions such as elections and parties may not solve the state-strength dilemma in milieu where political programs and identities revolve primarily around social cleavages.”
UN involvement. Many argue that the United Nations is an institution made up of sovereign states and therefore it will be antithetical for the agency to become involved in internal state matters. However the recent trend of involvement as seen in Bosnia, Sudan, East Timor and other states have begun to see a redefined role for the UN
Devolution of Power: There are many models which exist from as close as Suriname, Brazil, and Venezuela, to as far away as Northen Ireland and Sweden. Some have suggested devolution along territorial lines such as Federalism, others speak of power sharing or shared governance which some speak of inclusive democracy.
President’s/Government’s Response:
1. Stakeholders’ Meetings
2. Reaffirmation of Security Plan. We all agree that the plan is a good one for normal functioning of the police force or service little or nothing is encapsulated for the strengthening of the GDF for the “urban warfare” that the Chief of Staff . (Refer to plan)
3. Policy Statements at Babu John to commemorate the death of one of Guyana’s national heroes Cheddi Jagan. (SN 3rd March, 2008)
He further stated that those persons calling for power sharing are saying that they can control these killings if they are part of the government. This, Jagdeo called "a back door way" of trying to seek power.
"Many people would like a back door way to political power, they don't want to take elections or the democratic way,"
He continued that should any government allow itself to be bullied into sharing political power then there is no democratic future for that country neither will there be a brighter future for children.
Our response has to be both collective and constitutional. Merely talking in a room and issuing communiqués though helpful will prove insufficient. My colleague Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan has eloquently articulated that unless there is growth and political space being accorded to all, we will continue to spiral downwards into the morass.
The AFC is ready to be seriously engaged in talks to transform this nation whenever the government feels that it is. We will not attend to hear roll calls of persons killed or about helicopters borrowed or bought.
During my presentation last year I made the following words which I repeat again:
There can be no development without inclusivity, no peace without justice; and no future without cooperation. Guyana cannot afford to experiment further with dogmatic and standard forms of “democracy” where there is a government and loyal opposition. We are just not configured to operate in that manner. We are simply not like other countries and a continued belief or rather pretense that we are, is perhaps our greatest threat. We must accept our differences, and therefore prepare for them. In this regard it is important that we build trust, and begin to share equitably and systemically, the economic and political pie. This is the only way of progressing.
Mr. Speaker time is upon us. We cannot delay or procrastinate or deny our situation. Those who refuse to change course will become the forgotten people of yesterday and imperil the children of tomorrow. We must enter into a new paradigm of democracy and governance and we must do so as a matter of urgency.
In closing I quote two very applicable biblical verses:
“Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
(Corinthians Chapter 10, Verses 11 and 12.)
Mr. Speaker every year at about this time the government introduces its budget and the opposition members are expected to behave loyally and obediently and feint and parry with the government ministers and others in a satirical theatrical performance that has come to be known as the budget debates. Every year that I have spoken I have asked the question of: what is the benefit of this exercise. I have never seen a debate that adopted any useful suggestions of the opposition which led to substantive changes in the estimates. By the way Mr. Speaker, I reject the usual drivel that this is the way it was under the PNC. If it was nauseating in the 1970s and 1980s then it is more nauseating in the 21st century.
This year, I can say without fear of successful contradiction, that the people are neither amused nor impressed by our behaviour. At the end of this exercise what do we collectively hope to achieve; how is the governance of the country improved; what benefits for social cohesion are derived; do the national indicators show that the people’s perceptions of politicians have improved and that our overall ratings are positive? Hon. Member Mrs. Philomena Sahoye-Shury, a veteran politician by anyone’s description, last night indicated that these were the worst debates in the history of her parliamentary involvement. That statement in itself should tell us something.
Indeed the people expect and deserve better from these debates, but yet the system that compels our presence here expects us to behave as adversaries and to disagree and yet we lament when this very behaviour occurs asking: “why can’t we all get along”…”why can’t we develop this country together.
What would it take for the Minister of Finance or Prime Minister prior to the presentation of a budget to contact the Office of the Leader of the Opposition and other parliamentary parties to ask whether he and or his party and other opposition parties have any specific requests for any of the Regions that they have constituents within. Mr. Speaker we are not getting the point. Minister Kelawan last night says that the RDCs execute the government’s programme not their own.
There is not a day that has gone by that we have not witnessed some terrible senseless killing. Guyanese life has become as Hobbes describes it: “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”, and if I may add, meaningless. Men are killing women, road users are being mowed down, elderly men suffering the ignominy of guarding someone’s property at night instead of being home with their wives and grandchildren and being bludgeoned; and worst of all, little innocent children have now become appropriate targets for extinction.
With this in mind Mr. Speaker I will not enter into a vitriolic attack on any minister, or colleague member on the government side of the House though I will say that I feel tremendous pity and disappointment for some in particular, but instead prefer to use the very limited time available to me to make a few pertinent statements. At the end of my presentation Mr. Speaker I hope, sincerely hope, that I would have been able to convince those gathered here that the size of this budget at $119.3 bln is meaningless unless we can arrest what is a certain descent into madness. I mean no disrespect to the Hon. Minister of Finance, my brother and colleague, or to his staff that worked assiduously to prepare this budget. Relative to the situation that we face since January 26, 2008, I suspect that within a few months unless we dismount and change course, and not stay the course that we are currently on, this document is not going to be worth the paper that it is printed on.
All economic prognoses and forecasts have to be revised in the near and long term. The events which began some years ago and continued on a new plane on January 26 and February 17 have permanently changed the landscape of Guyana socially, legally, politically and of course economically, and whether we are prepared to accept it or not, so too constitutionally. What I found truly amazing Mr. Speaker is the ease and ability of many speakers to express condolences at the events of January and February and then immediately go into boasting about bridges and roads as if to say that these events, these massacres, were aberrations or rippling distortions that have passed their way and will never been seen again. We can never go back to the way we were on the night of January 25, 2008.
What too many of us are not getting is that despite the best efforts made since 1966 this country continues to be divided, and because we are divided we are floundering on the brink of collapse. Every Head of State since then has struggled to govern a rich geographical area of 83,000 sq. miles, and to build a nation from six disparate groups with six cultures, customs, and mores. Too many continue to slip away, and of these, too many have decided, as their country men and women did even when the PNC was the governing party, that they cannot, and will not, be governed by the incumbent party.
With this in mind therefore I wish to proffer the thesis that outside of the increase in the allocation for crime and security in the 2008 budget that the remaining heads are now of little consequence because they are meant to be the spokes in wheel whose hub is disintegrating. Put simplistically as possible, I am saying that unless we get our crime and security situation and good governance platforms in place urgently, there will be schools, buildings, and bridges to spend money on but no people to benefit from them...they all would have left or become consumed in the looming conflagration. We will find ourselves stuck in the slush and filth of the “bottom billion” that Khemraj spoke about.
In this context, statements about bird watching and yachting are now bordering on the sublime and ridiculous. So too are statements about the government building bridges of friendship and social cohesion in the face of the worst massacres in our history barring Jonestown, and so too the unfortunate, uninformed, and uneducated statements made about the etiological or root causes of crime and insecurity and the catalysts which drive and accelerate them.
By way of example Mr. Speaker I will refer this Honourable House to two sectors to show the debilitating impact that the incidents of January 26 and February 17 have already had.
Tourism
Recent advisories issued by two very influential governments have put paid to the plans to develop the sector effectively at least in the near to medium term. The images of bodies slaughtered and piled in a boat like swine for guests of Baganara and the world to see, and the diatribe on NCN in the days which followed ensured that the local components were put in place to ensure that our tourism sector will be on its knees for many, many years.
National Security and Territorial Integrity
It is beyond a doubt that the twin matters of Foreign Affairs and National Security have been jeaporised by the ongoing criminal and terroristic activity in Guyana. As has already been pointed out, very little is being given to meet the needs of the military to take care of external and transnational threats. We need only to be reminded of the discovery of an 1100 meter airstrip in the Corentyne River, the incidents at Eterinbang and the Cuyuni River where Persram Persaud was killed and a year later, the destruction of two dredges by Venezuelan military detachments; the movement of narcotics and weapons across our borders, and of course heinous acts of piracy which continue daily, to know that the security forces cannot fight on two fronts at the same time. The argument is that we are having to invest more and more on internal security and will do so to the detriment of our external affairs and the protection of our territorial integrity.
It is a known fact that following the UN Law of the Sea Arbitral Award that there will be increased activity on in the EEZ for the exploration of oil and gas as Repsol of Spain and CGX are expected to explore and drill yet there is a weakening of our diplomatic and military effort to protect the gains that we have received. Scarce resources have to be diverted to the civilian policing matters. Already this week we have seen enhanced activity on the borders of Columbia by Venezuela and Ecuador relative to the operations of and against FARC. I need not ask whether we are prepared.
In the areas of crime and security and justice I wish to focus or to use an Americanism “focus in”
My views are well known as to what we are beginning to see signs of a burgeoning insurgency. I will develop this argument later on. In a letter dated February 4, 2008, addressed to his Excellency the President I informed him that “It is obvious that a group of Guyanese (or non-state actors) has decided to defy the authority of the State and are prepared to unleash unprecedented mayhem in our society as witnessed last Saturday January 26, 2007 in Lusignan, East Coast Demerara. This is a serious problem that has serious consequences for the national security, cohesiveness, and viability of the State of Guyana and cannot be left unattended. The recent events cannot be dismissed as mere criminal activity coming from any particular enclave of our society.” The high incidence of dissatisfaction, despair and disgust is pervasive as was witnessed firsthand by some members of the Cabinet who braved the angry residents of Lusignan and Mon Repos immediately after the slaughter.
Besides holding arms and issuing joint communiqués we must go further and deeper. This is not merely about power sharing or shared governance but something deeper and more far reaching. It is about making a last attempt to prevent the collapse of the nation state we call Guyana. It transcends issues as to who occupies ministries and departments and goes to the manner in which we educate, empower, encourage and elevate our people especially our youth to ensure that we do not leave a broken for them.
The fact that our present crop of criminals whether called: sycophants, terrorists, insurgents, guerrillas, or whatever label we use are of the average age of 18 and that some like “Nasty Man” are almost babes in arms, tells us that the seeds of this crop were planted within the last 15 years, or for those who do not understand, or don’t want to understand, under the period of governance of the PPP/C administration. These are the manifestations, unwanted and as offensive as they are, of a bad system of governance, and of bad governance itself.
Mr. Speaker, with each passing year I am becoming more convinced that Guyana’s mal-performance is a function of its colonial past. The greatest paradox of our time is that it is to that past that we must return if we are to have a future. Renowned professor of political science and international relations Kalevi Holsti in his work “The State, War, and the State of War” describes Guyana and a few other states thus:
“The colonial state’s main purposes had nothing to do with preparation for ultimate statehood, and everything to do with economic exploitation, building some infrastructure and communication, settling migrants, organizing plantation agriculture, introducing extraction of surplus through taxes, organizing some semblance of lower-level education and religious activity, and providing “law and order” so that these tasks could go on unhindered…From the beginning, then, the territorial limits of the colonies had little or nothing to do with the economic practices, identification, or the political organization of indigenous populations.
The colonial territorial unit bore little or no relationship to any pre-colonial ethnic, religious, political, social, or religious communities or political systems”
And so the leaders for freedom took over the colonial state; alternative forms of political organization, such as a return to traditional modes of governance, federations, or continent-wide units, lost all popularity and thus significant discussion. The colonial state, an organism that left legacies primarily of arbitrary boundaries, bureaucracy, and the military, was taken over by leaders who believed that they could go on to create real nations and master the new state. Some succeeded. Many failed, and it is these failures that have led to wars of a third kind.
These wars euphemistically referred to as being of the “third kind” are your coup d’ etats, insurgencies, terrorist activities, organized criminality, and death squads.
The military scholar Martin Van Creveld recognized this sometime ago in his treatise aptly entitled “the Transformation of war”. “There are no strategies and tactics. Innovation, surprise, and unpredictability are necessities and virtues. The weak must rely on guile, and often crime, to raise funds for the bombings, assignations, and massacres. Prisoners are used as hostages to extract political gains; terrorist’s incidents are designed to make publicity, not to defeat an enemy armed force. Terror is used to cow the timid, the “collaborators”, and the indifferent. The clear distinction between, the armed forces, and the society that is the hallmark of institutionalized war dissolves in “peoples’ war.”
The weak state is caught in a vicious circle. It does not have the resources to create legitimacy by providing security and other services. In its attempt to find strength, it adopts predatory and kleptocratic practices or plays upon and exacerbates social tensions between the myriads of communities that make up the society. Everything it does to become a strong state actually perpetuates its weakness.
This is known as the state-strength dilemma.
Four Responses to State-Strength Dilemma
Individuals and groups engage in quietism—say and do nothing and hope that the cloud of death will not stop at their doors.
Exit either through migration abroad or joining the underground economy-drugs, smuggling, graft/runnings. In 1992 the number migrating were estimated to be 20,000 annually. Recent estimates suggest that the rate of migration is 7 per 1000 annually and this is expected to rise to 10 per 1000 by 2010 (US AID 2006 Report on Guyana Economic Opportunities)
Giving Voice-Speaking out. This is considered the most dangerous of the four options. Government sponsored death squads or special army units, eliminate opposition leaders and a good portion of their sympathizers. Opposition often leads to torture, prolonged detention, and reprisals against family members.
Resistance becomes violent. It can take several forms, including conspiracy, attempted coups, rebellion, intercommunal war, and the ultimate challenge to state legitimacy, and the right to rule.
I have sought to set out the descent into collapse and anarchy that has begun to face us. I hope that it has had a chilling effect. No amount of spin can change what the experts have already determined is taking place in Guyana. What do we do? No one hearing these words can deny that every stage of the descent is palpably present in Guyana. In fact I make bold to say that we have arrived at stage 4. There is no 5th or lower stage to go to. This is it.
Some Recommendations Applied Elsewhere:
Continuous holding of “free and fair” elections with the intention that these will lead to the establishment of new modes of political competition in which individuals and communal groups attain prospects for gaining access to decision-making and to the distribution of government services. However in a society characterized by strong ethnic and/or religious cleavages elections tend to become no more than censuses through which majorities and minorities become permanent. Equal opportunity for access to decisions and government allocations then become difficult and, as has often been shown in practice, even impossible. Democratic institutions such as elections and parties may not solve the state-strength dilemma in milieu where political programs and identities revolve primarily around social cleavages.”
UN involvement. Many argue that the United Nations is an institution made up of sovereign states and therefore it will be antithetical for the agency to become involved in internal state matters. However the recent trend of involvement as seen in Bosnia, Sudan, East Timor and other states have begun to see a redefined role for the UN
Devolution of Power: There are many models which exist from as close as Suriname, Brazil, and Venezuela, to as far away as Northen Ireland and Sweden. Some have suggested devolution along territorial lines such as Federalism, others speak of power sharing or shared governance which some speak of inclusive democracy.
President’s/Government’s Response:
1. Stakeholders’ Meetings
2. Reaffirmation of Security Plan. We all agree that the plan is a good one for normal functioning of the police force or service little or nothing is encapsulated for the strengthening of the GDF for the “urban warfare” that the Chief of Staff . (Refer to plan)
3. Policy Statements at Babu John to commemorate the death of one of Guyana’s national heroes Cheddi Jagan. (SN 3rd March, 2008)
He further stated that those persons calling for power sharing are saying that they can control these killings if they are part of the government. This, Jagdeo called "a back door way" of trying to seek power.
"Many people would like a back door way to political power, they don't want to take elections or the democratic way,"
He continued that should any government allow itself to be bullied into sharing political power then there is no democratic future for that country neither will there be a brighter future for children.
Our response has to be both collective and constitutional. Merely talking in a room and issuing communiqués though helpful will prove insufficient. My colleague Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan has eloquently articulated that unless there is growth and political space being accorded to all, we will continue to spiral downwards into the morass.
The AFC is ready to be seriously engaged in talks to transform this nation whenever the government feels that it is. We will not attend to hear roll calls of persons killed or about helicopters borrowed or bought.
During my presentation last year I made the following words which I repeat again:
There can be no development without inclusivity, no peace without justice; and no future without cooperation. Guyana cannot afford to experiment further with dogmatic and standard forms of “democracy” where there is a government and loyal opposition. We are just not configured to operate in that manner. We are simply not like other countries and a continued belief or rather pretense that we are, is perhaps our greatest threat. We must accept our differences, and therefore prepare for them. In this regard it is important that we build trust, and begin to share equitably and systemically, the economic and political pie. This is the only way of progressing.
Mr. Speaker time is upon us. We cannot delay or procrastinate or deny our situation. Those who refuse to change course will become the forgotten people of yesterday and imperil the children of tomorrow. We must enter into a new paradigm of democracy and governance and we must do so as a matter of urgency.
In closing I quote two very applicable biblical verses:
“Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
(Corinthians Chapter 10, Verses 11 and 12.)
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Lusingan massacre
This is the most recent event in Guyana that has galvanized all of us; both at home and overseas. Instead of sending around hundreds of emails, let's post our thoughts and questions here and get the whole story, when it is convenient for each of us. Also, this way, no one is left out of the loop. tx
Oma
Here is my last email, asking for us to go forward together..
All, There are some realities that come through from Cathy, Raphael, Khemraj, Sheila, Chantalle and others at home which we all have to heed. At the same time, those of us here being at a distance, while enraged also, can offer ideas that can probably complement ideas on the ground with a different point of view. It is a good balance and we are fortunate to have the collective passion I see in the emails. We also need to recognize our limitations and strength in planning and executing action plans. The team at home have heard from us; they have seen first hand; they know the sentiments on the ground; they have a good handle on the political realities at home; and they are hurting and as enraged as much as we are. They are planning responses with the benefit of all our inputs. Let us now let the team lead as they should. Let us wait to hear the plan and then comment in as calm and constructive a way as we can. How we all handle this together is also about who we are as a team and how we will mature as a movement. Let's be passionate; lets all demand change and play our parts in getting it; let those of us overseas figure out how we can help to support the work needed locally - it will take a lot of resources to make an impact; and above all, let's seek to understand before being understood. We have to challenge ourselves and each other. This is essential. Yet at the same time, having had our say, we have to trust the judgement and instincts of those we elected to lead. Oma
Oma
Here is my last email, asking for us to go forward together..
All, There are some realities that come through from Cathy, Raphael, Khemraj, Sheila, Chantalle and others at home which we all have to heed. At the same time, those of us here being at a distance, while enraged also, can offer ideas that can probably complement ideas on the ground with a different point of view. It is a good balance and we are fortunate to have the collective passion I see in the emails. We also need to recognize our limitations and strength in planning and executing action plans. The team at home have heard from us; they have seen first hand; they know the sentiments on the ground; they have a good handle on the political realities at home; and they are hurting and as enraged as much as we are. They are planning responses with the benefit of all our inputs. Let us now let the team lead as they should. Let us wait to hear the plan and then comment in as calm and constructive a way as we can. How we all handle this together is also about who we are as a team and how we will mature as a movement. Let's be passionate; lets all demand change and play our parts in getting it; let those of us overseas figure out how we can help to support the work needed locally - it will take a lot of resources to make an impact; and above all, let's seek to understand before being understood. We have to challenge ourselves and each other. This is essential. Yet at the same time, having had our say, we have to trust the judgement and instincts of those we elected to lead. Oma
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