WE’VE got to see two things happen in this nation for us to really move forward in harmony, good sense and cooperative togetherness.First, the Opposition owes it to this nation to admit, acknowledge and tell the story of Guyana’s amazing transformation over the past 23 years. The fact is that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) did a stunning job of pulling us out of the sad doldrums that the People’s National Congress (PNC) left us in after 28 years of socio-economic devastation.
The Opposition’s got to exercise the magnanimous, humane and authentic leadership we need from it, with an objective, rational and open attitude towards Guyanese. The Opposition must respect the freely and fairly elected Government, demonstrate a willingness to put our national development first, ahead of its lust for power, and exercise discipline to play its role with responsible leadership.
Second, the Government’s got to embrace sensible Opposition leadership, making space for the viewpoint and contribution of Opposition leaders to the national conversation.
In President Donald Ramotar, we see Government open and ready to do exactly this, to bring on board all national stakeholders in the task of our development as a 21st century nation.
Government works hard to maintain and cultivate a democratic atmosphere in this country, and a free, unrestrained national private media setup gives ready and easy access to all and sundry who oppose Government. So the Opposition’s got a strong, vociferous national voice, on TV, in the two biggest circulated daily newspapers, online and through social media.
In fact, the Opposition drowns out Government’s efforts to shape the national conversation and social space. That’s why we see this blessed, pastoral, peaceful, progressive land so stooped in negativity and division and strife, because the Opposition controls the national conversation, negatively impacting even folks within Government, the ruling party and public servants.
Government must, in fact, develop its ability to equal or surpass the Opposition’s efficiency in filling the Guyanese social landscape with its viewpoint and mindset.
President Ramotar knows the shortcomings of our society. The President leads a Government that cultivates an attitude of humble service, and he’s said on national TV that Government doesn’t have all the answers, and it would take the entire human capital of our nation to achieve our great, legendary potential.
After the 2011 National and Regional Elections, we saw a complete breakdown of Government-Opposition relations, and it’s imperative that we examine what caused such an unworkable national atmosphere.
Any rational, objective mind would see that the Opposition performed the worst possible role it could, in stymying national development. What stands out with stark revelation is the Opposition’s role in reducing Guyana to an international financial pariah, with the non-passage in the Majority 10th Parliament of the Anti-Money Laundering Bill.
Guyana became one of a handful of countries, joining such international outcasts as Somalia and North Korea, to not sign on to the international laws against the financing of terrorism.
This grotesque action of the Opposition, along with its stifling of the expansion of the international airport, its railroading of the hydro-electric project of Government, and its slashing of the Amerindian Development Fund and tuition funding for the University of Guyana, reveal just how unworkable the Opposition set out to be, deliberately.
One scratches one’s head in vain to objectively excuse the Opposition’s action, especially knowing what a servant-leader President Ramotar is turning out to be. The President is growing in the job as President, evolving into an outstanding national leader, rising above the frays and factions and in-fighting that so bedevils this country.
Opposition folks would dismiss these things without even thinking on them, claiming the Chronicle publishes this column as an apology for the President, bashing the Opposition. So crass and irrational are these Opposition leaders, that any straight-forward, objective, sensible discussion with them, any sort of talk that respects Government and President Ramotar, stirs their anger and hatred and blank-stare disengagement.
The PPP’s history as the premier political force in our nation includes it having to constantly design strategies to overcome opposition to its work, from the independent national media.
Dr. Cheddi Jagan’s battle in the 1950’s and 1960’s mirrors what goes on today. Back then the PPP propelled serious development in Guyana, only to see international geopolitical powers work with internal organs, including the private media, to stymie its contribution to the Guyanese nation.
The excuse back then was that the PPP’s ideology as a communist, USSR-aligned party could not be allowed to rule a Caribbean country, and a member of the Commonwealth.
Now, however, such ideological concerns don’t matter. Yet, we see the exact same instinct at play, where the Diplomatic Corp works with internal organs, including the national private media and certain political leaders, to cause an unworkable national atmosphere for the PPP/C.
This is grotesque and unfair to the PPP/C, which has done so much positive and good for our nation.
The way we treated late former President, Janet Jagan, is a graphic symbol of how we treated the Party that she sacrificed her life for, her building and cultivating a political force representing the working class, the poor, the disadvantaged, as a political voice for the socio-economic wellbeing of Guyanese.
With a deep historical sense of its place in our history, and its struggles over the decades for social justice, democracy and economic development, the PPP knows what it faces. It has developed an instinctive reaction to this constant attack upon its performance.
As in the 1950’s and 1960’s, we see it rapidly developing the socio-economic wellbeing of Guyanese in the 1990’s and 2000’s, only to face tremendous opposition from internal forces like the private media and opposition parties, and criticism from the diplomatic corp.
These things the Opposition would do well to dwell on, to understand and to exercise empathetic leadership on, in working with the Government of President Ramotar to accelerate the stunning development we’ve experienced over the past two decades.