GUYANA AFTER JAGDEO

      Pres. Jagdeo and the PPP have had 16 years to heal the wounds of the past and bring Guyana into the 21st century, free from the racial divisions which have hamstrung the country and its development. When he stated recently that " we have to change the political  culture of the land ", he opened up an opportunity to begin a debate on what has plagued the country and kept it from realising its potential. Here's hoping that this debate will begin and that it will be done in a non-partisan way, where statesmanship and not parochial pontificating will prevail. It is time for healing and not, namecalling and blame mongering.

      Dr. Jagan was a Guyanese first and foremost, and it is besmirching of his legacy, that the political party the he founded and led, has forgotten and betrayed his dream of a united Guyana. The time for Indian/ African/ Chinese/ Portugeese/ Aboriginal etc.Guyana is over. This has been the bane of the nation. It is time to recognise that diversity is a strength, if it is properly harnessed ........Vive la Difference..... This is, the great strength of the country. Playing the game of divide and rule is destructive and is only of use to those who put personsl political ambitions and gains ahead of the good of the people.

      The next leader must have the courage to take a clear stand on this. He/She must have the will and the fortitude to define what is wrong and what must done. He/She must stand not only for a united Guyana,  but must lead the way in uniting all  Guyanese. This will not be easy. There will be those who will resist in order to protect their political turf and their selfish interest. These, must be revealed for what they are.... the enemy of the people. Racial healing, electoral reform and accountability must be the order of the day.

      The next leader must ensure that the government reflect the diversity of the country. He/She must co-opt, recruit and attract representatives from these groups. He/She must remove any doubts and any apparent racial, religious, regional and gender bias. It is time to move on.

      P.R., the colonial tool that has been used to divide the people, must be changed. When P,R. was imposed on Guyana, it was meant to ensure failure and chaos. Posing as a more democratic means of choosing representatives, it was instead a means to  exercabate the racial/religious differences. Guyanese had lived together in peace and friendship for years. In the villages, the estates and the cities, people lived, worked, prayed, and went to school with each other......I left Port Mourant to attend Central High in the fifties. I met my best and lifelong friends there. We went to each others home, ate each others mothers' cooking, dated each other and it did not matter whether your name was Fung/Lam/ Prashad/ Singh/ Odie/ Dublin/ Wong/ Cho chu/ Edwards or Daniels or Mangar or Fernandes.

     Guyana needs to adopt an electoral system that is truly representative. There are some advantages in P.R.......greater mathematical accuracy, small party are able to have a voice and it allows for party control and discipline etc. but it deepens cleavages and thus divisions, leads to a multiplicity of parties with a splintering effect and thus to a minotity or coalition government, which tends to be weak, unstable, inconsistent and incoherent.....held hiostage to the whims/demands of its junior partners, in order to survive........the tail wagging the dog. Bad governance is the result.

      There must be a wedding between P.R. and Single member by plurality. Here is how it can be done, and it is not necessary to increase / add seats to the legislature. Half of the seats can be chosen by P.R., and half by first past the post,. Guyana has 10 administrative regions. Each is allocated a number of seats ( Rep by Pop. ). These can be elected by first past the post. The other half can be shared amongst the various political parties, on the basis of popular support and distributed according to party list. In this way, a more representative and a more accountable government can   be elected. The regions will have a voice, the people are more accurately represented, the political parties can still exercise control and discipline  over its elected members and , you have a government that is more legitimate, more accountable and more able to govern.

      Let the Debate begin..........................

                                                 Ishwar R. Prashad.......RetiredProf. com

                                                 i.prashad@videotron.ca