AHEAD of Wednesday’s historic ceremonial opening of Guyana’s Eleventh Parliament, following the May 11 general elections, there have emerged a few significant welcome political signals.

Among these could easily be listed the identification of Dr Barton Scotland as Speaker of the National Assembly. A former senior diplomat and respected public servant, the choice of Dr. Scotland is a most welcome departure from a political culture, nurtured since the dawn of internal self-government by party politicking, and revolved around the partisan preferences of governing parties.
If, therefore, all goes according to current arrangements, and no recourse to what Barbadians often reference as “yard-fowl politics”, Dr. Scotland would be the first Guyanese, since independence 49 years ago, to preside over the business of Parliament as a “civil society” nominee and, theoretically, not the candidate of a political party.

The perception of competence and independence of the Speaker of Parliament is good for the office of the highest institution in a multi-party democratic state. It’s a perception equally applicable to appointees of the judiciary, in particular the high offices of Chancellor and Chief Justice.
Sadly, to this present time, Guyana is perhaps the only independent multi-party democratic state where both the Chancellor of the Judiciary ( Mr. Carl Singh) and Chief Justice (Mr. Ian Chang) –nationals with acknowledged outstanding judicial performances — continue to act in their respective position for at least a dozen years.

Pertinent Questions
Why? Because across ethnicities, class, party politics, and religion, Guyanese are aware that successive efforts, since the 2002 constitution, the Head of State of PPP-led governments have failed to secure the required support of the PNC-led parliamentary Opposition for confirmation in those offices by Chancellor Singh and Chief Justice Chang.
Their confirmation is required to be based on structured consultation between the President and Opposition Leader. No leader of the PNC as Opposition Leader – from the late Desmond Hoyte, Robert Corbin or David Granger is known to have consented to initiatives by the President of a PPP-led Administration to the confirmation of the current holders of the offices of Chancellor and Chief Justice. Why, I ask again?
But there was also another significant development last week as new President Granger, having sorted out his first post-elections cabinet, chose to engage in a few initial “consultations”, among them, crucially, with the Private Sector Commission (PSC).
To judge from a report by the generally informative ‘Demerara Waves’ news agency, the top officials of the PSC did not shy away from raising concerns with President Granger that had seriously occupied their attention while the political parties now comprising the new Government – PNC and AFC – also comprised the then Opposition coalition in Parliament.
PSC’s Initiatives
For a start, Guyanese, irrespective of cultural/political affinities, would recall the PSC’s strong interventions to get the PNC/AFC coalition to cooperate on critical pieces of legislation – e.g., money-laundering legislation – as well as high-profile economic development projects like the multi-million-dollar Amalia hydro-power scheme, as well as the need for reorganisation of the National Insurance Scheme and establishment of a Public Procurement Commission and an Integrity Commission.
Whatever their detractors may say, the leadership of the PSC seem quite anxious to engage President Granger’s Administration in an active work mode in the national interest of Guyana.
In the meanwhile, the law-enforcing institutions and agencies should come forward with new strategies to battle reckless, rampant criminality that cannot, and would not be arrested by angry official rhetoric but new ideas and programmes.
Perhaps we may learn about some such policies and programmes on Wednesday when President Granger unfolds his Governments at the ceremonial start of the 11th Parliament.
(Rickey Singh is a noted Guyana-born Caribbean journalist based in Barbados)

Analysis by
Rickey Singh