THE recent round of discussions on power sharing is indeed most revealing. And from these discussions it seems that there are many for whom power sharing remains an alien concept. Take David Hinds for instance. In his letter, “There is no prerequisite for good governance”, Hinds postulates on the power sharing concept with no theoretical grounding to support his arguments. Tell me, why it is automatically assumed that the PPP government represents only Indian interests? And, why exactly is it that African leaders, as Hinds insists, cannot be fair and simultaneously represent African interests, without distancing themselves from African interests.
Editor, Hinds and many others base their claims for power sharing on what they believe to be the marginalisation of African Guyanese under the PPP government. I am not aware that David Hinds or any of his partners for that matter have conducted any academic studies to prove that Africans are indeed being marginalised. Further, he determines that trust is not a prerequisite for effective governance, hence, the lack of trust among parties will not affect a coalition, but hints that the PPP party lacks cohesive trust and therefore, should surrender power for this reason.
Not only is this letter grounded in no academic or theoretical framework, with empirical findings to support his claims, but it is also fundamentally insulting to all Guyanese, especially those he claims to be representing. Hinds posits: “The very nature of ethnicity tells us that ethnic groups don’t trust each other to govern in the common interest. We know this because the overwhelming majority of them vote over and over, generation after generation, for their ethnic parties.” This academic is drawing a conclusion hastily without spelling out properly, what exactly this “very nature of ethnicity” is that he is referring to. Once again, Hinds’ conclusion is drawn solely from the assumption that Guyanese vote race. This showcases extreme arrogance on the letter writer’s part. What is essentially more insulting is that in his misuse of logic, Hinds is inadvertently telling every educated, qualified African Guyanese that has worked hard and persevered to accomplish their goals that the positions which they hold are only ‘token’ positions. This is ridiculously arrogant of David Hinds.