IT has been reported that some members of the new Government have been visiting communities across the country. The President himself led the way when, mere weeks after taking office, he visited Bartica. Ministers such as Volda Lawrence, Amna Ally, Keith Scott, Khemraj Ramjattan, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine and David Patterson have followed suit. We think this is a good sign that augurs well for the quality of our democracy. One conception of democracy which is most applicable to Guyana is what Political Scientists call Substantive Democracy. Sir Arthur Lewis described that form of democracy as one in which those who are affected by decisions should be involved in making them. At the level of leadership, Lewis was referring to all the leaders of representative political parties being involved in making the decisions of government. But he was also speaking to the need for a more direct democracy, whereby citizens in their communities get together to develop their own approaches to governance and the content of policies that affect them.
By going into the communities, therefore, the Ministers are broadening the scope of decision making; they are taking government to the people. When the Ministers hear from the people in a less politically charged atmosphere, the conversation is much more constructive. Absent is the compulsion to jump and cheer the speakers, on the part of the listeners, and the leaders’ need to fire up the crowds to get votes and or political mileage.
The Ministers, instead, come face to face with the realities of the lives of people in their communities. It is during those visits that the Ministers come to appreciate the extent to which our villages and other communities have been broken. They get to hear the anguish, and feel the pain of both their supporters and non-supporters. But, above all, they hear the wisdom of ordinary people in the form of their knowledge of their condition and thoughts on how it can be improved.
So, we urge the Ministers who have not gone into the communities to start doing so; it makes a difference both in terms of governance and the leader’s knowledge of their society. And it gives confidence to the people that somebody is listening to them. Knowledge that their Government is flesh and blood increases their trust in Government. And it is an open secret that we need a healthy dose of that.