WE hear calls for power-sharing, but Guyana already has various forms of power-sharing.

The opposition chaired a key parliamentary committee for years and now run all the committees. According to reports, few are functioning properly or at all. None of their supporters ever questioned why they didn’t ask more questions before in Parliament about some of the things that they are complaining about now. These committees and local government system provided an opportunity for their parties participation in governance, but they prefer to spend their time campaigning for the next election, greater power and the Presidency. Too bad if any supporter had to suffer in the meantime.

A writer once suggested that the Civil Service may also be a form of power-sharing. After all, the civil servants are in a much more integral position in government seeing that they both develop and run more government programmes than they and the opposition are willing to admit.
Any such admission would imply that these servants may themselves be as guilty of some of the charges constantly levelled against PPP ministers and other officials, without any proof. Some people believe that these workers may have benefited more from the PPP/C government in salary increases and benefits than other non-government workers. He suggested that the “C” in PPP/C may better stand for “Civil Service”. Guess this idea may seem no more absurd than the present salary demands being made for civil servants. Guess robbing Peter to pay Paul, is still an acceptable political option. Other workers and programmes will just have to wait.