THERE has been strong rebuke by sections of society to the announcement by the PNCR, the major party in the APNU and coalition APNU+AFC Government, that their Members of Parliament (MPs), who are Ministers of Government would meet with the public at its Congress Place headquarters. The intellectual development and increased knowledge base of any society are reliant on integrity in public discourses.It is the political party that conceptualises the policies of the government and has a responsibility to ensure it operates consistent with those policies. To be assured the government is doing the right thing the party has to rely on feedback from not only its members and supporters, but also the citizens at large. The practice of having ministers meeting with the public at the party office(s) is part of our political culture. It had been utilised during the governments of Cheddi Jagan, Forbes Burnham, Desmond Hoyte, Janet Jagan, Bharrat Jagdeo and Donald Ramotar.
To believe that the PNCR ministers who are MPs that have responsibilities to various constituencies ought not to meet with the public at Congress Place is to believe that the PPP/C MPs ought not to meet their constituents and public at Freedom House. It is also instructive that other parties within the coalition whose MPs and Ministers of Government meet supporters and the public at their party offices don’t attract similar condemnation. That somehow in the instance of the PNCR such meeting becomes party paramountcy and deserving to be decried absent objective analysis of our political culture and customs is bringing disrepute to public political discourse and not serving the best interest of society.
This good/bad binary where in our society it boils down to race and political association is a problem that has to be confronted and rooted out through constructive discourse and action. In fairness to all sides, the PPP/C’s good cannot be the PNCR or other political parties’ bad and vice versa. The growth and development of this society require taking deliberate action- speech and deeds- to reach the stage where good and bad are universally acceptable beliefs, holding all to the same standards and subjecting all to play by the same rules.
Ours is a political system whereby elected officials are extracted from the List of Representatives, as identified by the political party, to serve in Parliament and include some who are Ministers of Government. This reality is not unique to Guyana; it is a characteristic of the Westminster system of government. Other Caribbean countries that have adopted the Westminster system, though they have the constituency-based, first-past-the-post system, some elected MPs or appointed senators of the political parties are Ministers of Government. This also carries with it the responsibility of accounting to their constituencies. The difference with Guyana is that unlike our Caribbean counterparts, this society has not evolved to the stage where MPs have constituency offices.
And here is where the time has come to emulate best practices in legislative and political growth and development in sister member-states. For instance, in Jamaica, the State provides funding for the offices of parliamentarians to support their work in their constituencies. Guyana’s MPs’ offices can be similarly built and staffed by the State, given that a MP is a constitutional office and the records of his/her work are the property of the State. The Regional/Geographic MPs offices, inclusive of staffing and support services, can be set up in all 10 administrative regions. The offices for the National/Top-up MPs can be located in Georgetown. The time has come to act, for outside of this being a progressive political step and ensuring MPs adequately serve their constituents, it spares the society the divisive rancour and deceit which debase public discourse.