– ‘It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a Free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even of his personal services, to the defense of it’ – George Washington

(By Shaun Michael Samaroo)

WHEN we make moral judgments, we must first search for understanding, for engaging each other from the heart, seeing the intention and motive of the people with whom we connect.
Our nation stands at a crucial juncture of its history, with just a year to go to celebrate our 50th anniversary as an Independent people, and a novel nation on the earth. We are writing our story in the history book of humanity, this Guyanese nation birthed on May 26, 1966.
But, in our 49th year, we must overcome some serious misconceptions of who we are as a unique people on the world stage, in this 21st century.
We underestimate how much we actually share in common. The 10th Parliament descended from its lofty promise of a new paradigm, a new political engagement, into a quarrelsome, tired, complaining, rowdy cussdown, with every State project shut down, including the Amaila Hydro project, and the Anti-Money laundering laws left in limbo.
We descended to such lows because we insist on misconceiving who we are as Guyanese. For, in fact, we are a united, cohesive, peaceful, prosperous, hardworking, progressive people. In the past two decades, despite serious setbacks and bad stumbling and human mistakes, our nation has much to celebrate.
The single most astounding success that we’ve achieved as a people is the merger of civic society with the political sector, bringing about a level of engagement very few countries in today’s world experience.
When the Guyana Action for Reform and Democracy (GUARD), comprising trade unions, private sector groups and Non-Governmental Organisations, joined forces with the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), the fore-parent of Guyanese political organisation, we had turned a vitally crucial corner as a people.
For the past 23 years, this civic and political coalition worked well, with our Prime Minister culled from civic society, and working in fine harmony and goodwill with the political side of Government.
We saw the People’s National Congress (PNC) form its own civic component in the Reform arm, which has today collapsed, its members moving on to other concerns.
Now the PNC aligns itself not with civic groups anymore, but with fringe political parties in the hyperbolically-named A Partnership for National Unity (APNU). APNU embraces no civic group in its lopsidedly political partnership.
Even the ambitious Alliance For Change (AFC) has become a hardnosed, rigid political animal, with no civic organisation lining up with it or declaring endorsement of it, although it enjoys widespread support among private media practitioners, including two daily newspapers that unashamedly oppose our freely and fairly elected Government.

CIVIC COALITION
But the PPP, to its credit, maintains a strong civic coalition, this union cementing today into a concrete pact, unshakeable and ironclad. The Private Sector Commission, the Berbice Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and others, today play zero vocal and activist role against Government than they did when we fought against the dictatorship that stifled this nation for so long.
This pact between civic society and the PPP that today underlines the Guyana Government, a classic success story of politicians and citizens merging into workable democratic governance, goes way beyond a mere agreement. It works in reality, and it has become the modus operandi of how the PPP approaches the task of governing.
This spirit of reaching across society to include non-political leaders in the process of governance is well entrenched in how President Donald Ramotar works. Since he won the candidacy for the President within the Party before the 2011 elections, he started reaching out to civic groups and general society, and reports say he met with close to 100 groups and engaged them in dialogue.
Today, President Ramotar remains open and accessible, easily engaging with the rest of the country, whether in bottom-house meetings in the villages, or at Office of the President, where his door remains open to the nation.
We take this giant blessing, this spirit of engagement and reaching out, so much for granted. We never talk of it, or mention the success of the civic alignment with the PPP political machinery in governing this Guyanese society.
But the Guyana Government is open for business, and is now reaching out to attract the professional skills that our country needs to leap up to the next level in its current development trajectory.
In President Ramotar, the Guyanese nation has a political leader that acutely recognises that we cannot develop Guyana if we depend on politicians alone. Like Dr Cheddi Jagan, who, upon becoming President in 1992 invited people from across the society to engage together in building the new Guyanese society, including Dr Clive Thomas, Dr Henry Jeffrey, Sam Hinds and numerous others, President Ramotar today reaches out to the wider society for the skills, expertise and leadership that would propel us forward.
It’s a great pity that the 10th Parliament did not give him the opportunity to develop the Amaila Hydro project, and proceeded instead to cut the meagre Guyana Budget. Initial talks among the political parties after the 2011 elections quickly broke down, as arrogance and pride reared up to block any possibility of progress: a one-seat majority in Parliament is not a bargaining chip, but an opportunity to engage and reach out, in respect and good sense.

President Ramotar faced endless setbacks in his short three years at the Office of the President: budget cuts, Opposition discontent over every single project he took on, Parliamentary cuts in Amerindian Development and University of Guyana tuition access, and a host of other ills. Daily, the nation woke up to hear the Ramotar Government take a verbal hammering from malcontents and discontents.
Our country’s ongoing problems with widespread corruption, across the entire society, and with inadequate public accounting systems and inefficiency in the Justice system, these became fodder at which the national media fed daily, regurgitating story after story of Government failings, demoralising citizens, fostering a Guyanese homeland of uninspiring public conversations.
Many of those who complain and propagate verbal noise vent either personal frustrations, or cannot engage and network with Government and its officials to air their grievances.
President Ramotar faced the vexing problem of lack of local government elections, which perpetuate a City and Town Council in Georgetown that daily reduces our capital city to the worst Capital in the Caribbean.
Many were the setbacks, although many were the successes. And the foundation success is this abiding civic-political coalition that forms the Guyanese Government today, with President Ramotar’s style of humility and that easy way of reaching out and engaging the society making him ideally suited for this civic-political pact.

ENGAGING PRESIDENT RAMOTAR
Former Auditor General, Dr Anand Goolsarran, a vociferous public critic of Government’s accounting system, this weekend scrapped any idea for him to form a political party. It would be in the interest of the nation were Dr Goolsarran to offer his services to President Ramotar.
Even the AFC would signal its concern for the welfare of the Guyanese nation with an open, engaging attitude towards President Ramotar and his Government.
In fact, this spirit of engagement rests not only with the President, but with many of the Ministers, including Dr Frank Anthony, whose work at the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture has reached across all sectors of the society, to embrace every facet of youth, sport and culture. Despite myopic and narrow criticisms of his leadership, Dr Anthony has led from the front to launch key initiatives, including the Caribbean Press, which has printed over 100 books, including the Parliamentary speeches of the late LFS Burnham, an act of incredible magnanimity and non-partisanship.
In Education, Minister Priya Manickchand reaches across the society to network with parents, teachers and the society at large to improve our education system. It’s a pity her Education Bill couldn’t be a ground breaking achievement of the 10th Parliament.
In Minister Anil Nandlall, whose work as Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs suffered terribly during the 10th Parliament with the non-passage of the Anti-Money laundering laws, we’ve got an accessible, engaging and humble Government leader. He rubs shoulders with people in villages across the country, and genuinely cares about the people he encounters. He has played a key role in opening the Government to fresh professional skills.
It’s quite astonishing that the national media appears blind to this aspect of President Ramotar’s administration: its openness, engagement and easy access to any Guyanese.
In fact, one feels confident that were APNU to approach President Ramotar and his team with a humble, workable idea to play a role in Government, the President would welcome it. Had the Opposition adopted this tone and spirit of coalition, instead of mere rhetoric of alliances and partnerships, in the 10th Parliament, how different a nation we would be today, instead of sitting on the edge waiting for national elections.
We will have local government elections and a reformed education system and anti-money laundering legislation, but these will come when we sit around a table, not jockeying to be boss, but allowing the humble and engaging folks among us to lead us forward.
Instead of cultivating this spirit, even as we take it so much for granted as it exists within the Government already, too many disgruntled souls insist on making moral judgments, many times speculating and raising hell about what may or may not be truth.
For example, in an Editorial on President Ramotar’s move to reduce electricity rates for Guyanese citizens, the Stabroek News, that daily newspaper that should stand out as the epitome of responsible journalism in this country, wrote this shocking statement: “The announcement has also raised the trepidation among many that the Guyana Power and Light might be forced to compensate with increased power outages. Both announcements, while hoped for and welcomed, were definitely at odds with what had been emanating from the Cabinet just prior to this. The impression was that the left hand did not know what the right hand was doing, or that there was forcing of the hand or sleight of hand at work. It was clear that not all hands were on deck where these reductions were concerned.”
In that passive statement “has also raised trepidation among many” that blackouts would increase, the newspaper indulged in propagating sensational, alarmist sentiments, while ignoring the benefits of the price reduction, and proceeded to speculating on disagreements within “Cabinet” among Government members over the reduction. This smacks of amateur journalistic thinking, as disagreements and heated discussions are normal in most meetings, much less serious Government business.
A respected and professional newspaper like the Stabroek News should know better than this, but that’s what the President has had to put up with in his term in office: a relentless irrational rant against him, based solely on partisan sentiment, rather than on sound critical analysis.
Not once has the Stabroek News sought to engage Government at an Editorial meeting, seeking clarification so that its Editorial positions regarding Government are based on fact and not sentiment, on fairness rather than biased partisan emotional reactions.
When we form moral judgments, we must be careful to consider the heart and soul of those we seek to nail to the cross.
The President of the Guyanese nation today believes in engagement, openness and authentic conversation about the problems this society faces, and welcomes solutions from anyone, including civic society.
The PPP has not hugged Government, but shared key sectors with civic society, and reaches out wherever it feels welcomes to make the kind of difference that matters.
We as citizens owe it to President Ramotar to grant him the room to lead this nation, without trying to stifle every move he makes.
We should not judge him at every turn, but learn to see his heart and intention and motive: he cares deeply for the Guyanese nation, and it shows in how he reaches out and engages with people from all walks of life.
Should we grant him full cooperation and trust, as our freely and fairly elected President; should we contribute our shoulder to the wheel for his national development projects to become successful; should we band together and see that the civic and political arms of society actually work well, with reasonable success in governing us, we would become an inspired, motivated, uplifted people, heads held high, a grand and noble people on the world stage of this 21st century global village.
In this attitude of seeing these great pluses in our nation, which we take so much for granted, like the astounding success of the civic-political coalition at work in this current Government, we hold our destiny in our hands, ready to write into reality the future of the Guyanese nation.