LAST WEDNESDAY when Guyana celebrated its 44th Independence anniversary, the encouraging news was that of a national economy in a generally good shape. And, except for natural disasters, continuing tragedies resulting from gun crimes, and lingering political misrepresentations, established democratic norms remain the way of life here.
There are, of course, challenges to be overcome, among these a felt need for new initiatives for more effective services from our security forces in dealing with criminality, while at the same time respecting the basic rights of individuals in their custody, or being investigated, consistent with the rule of law.
The political opposition have their own agendas in the kind of criticisms they continue to make against the disciplined forces, at times quite provocative. They should consider how to be fair to the security forces in the allegations they feed to the media, with the apparent intention of undermining the integrity of both the police and army.
Some surprising misrepresentations have also surfaced of late from representatives of foreign governments with which Guyana has long established good relations, and from which governments better understanding is expected of the realities of our social, political and security environment.
By the time Guyana celebrates its 45th Independence anniversary, the country would be very much in a general election mode, with incumbent and opposition parties competing for control of the parliament and reins of government.
The big difference for elections 2011 would be, as widely expected, not just who will be the new presidential candidate for the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP), but also for the main opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR). Current manoeuvres are reported to be underway for a coalition arrangement of the Alliance for Change (AFC) with the PNCR, the latter likely by then under a new leader.
Whatever the status of such a opposition political arrangement of convenience, the Guyanese people would expect that free and fair elections, as restored in 1992, will be the way to rightly sustain multi-party parliamentary democracy at the 2011polls.
For now, with 44 years of British colonialism behind us, and with defence of its sovereignty a non-negotiable factor in its governance system, Guyana has much to be pleased about in overcoming the odds to improve the general welfare of the citizens of this proud nation.