— Ramkarran urges Pres Granger, Jagdeo to engage on constitutional reform

FORMER Speaker of the National Assembly, Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran, has issued a call to President David Granger and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo to talk about Constitutional reform and find a way to get the process moving.
In his weekly blog, Ramkarran said, “The time has come for APNU+AFC and the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) to end the deadlock and get on with what they both promised.”
The attorney noted that because of the country’s ethnic divide, primarily between the Africans and East Indians, the country remains politically challenged.
“It is because of all these issues facing Guyana, undergirded by a political structure in which neither major ethnic group has confidence unless that group is perceived to control political power, that the Carter Center has called for constitutional reform,” he stated.
The Carter Center in its report on the May 2015 General and Regional Elections, said the 2004 winner-take-all system here does not serve the country’s interest, given its demographic patterns and history of entrenched ethnic voting.
“In this system, the party (and ethnic group) that wins a plurality of the votes claims all executive and legislative power except in the rare cases of opposition majorities in the National Assembly.
“This exclusionary governance system fuels ethnic insecurity and is a factor in Guyana’s long-running ethnic conflict.
“While this dynamic has changed somewhat since the Herdmanston reforms and the rise of a successful third political party in 2005, this does not obviate the need for further constitutional reforms,” the Center noted.
The coalition government during the lead-up to the May 2015 elections,had committed to having constitutional reform so as to achieve inclusive governance and power-sharing.
As such, the Carter Center called on the PPP to “engage fully in what should be an open process inclusive of all stakeholders.”
Meanwhile, Ramkarran noted that the APNU+AFC has shown the way and the PPP has not rejected constitutional reform either in principle or APNU+AFC proposals.
“The APNU+AFC has proposed in its last manifesto the following: separate presidential elections; the requirement for 50 per cent +1 to win; the person who comes second in the presidential race to become the prime minister; and every party that wins 15 per cent or more of the votes to be entitled to seats in the government.”

ETHNO/POLITICAL RIVALRY
He said too that Guyana’s ethno/political rivalry has long created a level of instability that it has become one of the main obstacles to economic growth, resulting in experts concluding that the instability affects foreign investments.
“With ethno/political division being the major ‘problematic’ in Guyana’s politics, it has now become routine political correctness to call for unity and cohesion. While this is a laudable objective, it is a long-term project and progress would be slow and imperceptible,” Ramkarran said.
In observance of the country’s 51st independence anniversary, President David Granger called for there to be a unified Guyana and in his independence Day address themed, ‘ Diversity and Destiny’, the President stressed the need for social cohesion by learning to accept and respect each citizen’s values and beliefs, as well as to share “the common space we call our homeland.”
He noted that Independence Day celebrates the unique combination of people who came to Guyana: the Africans, Chinese, Indians and Portuguese, who with the Amerindians have contributed to the “creation of a multi-racial and multi-religious state.”
“The ‘free state’ is one that is free from discrimination; it is one that is built on the basis of respect for cultural diversity, political inclusivity and social equality,” said the head-of-state.
Similarly, Ramkarran said that the six peoples that created a diverse Guyana live here under the same roof, resulting in the understanding of differing historical experiences, and cultural and religious practices.

COMPARTMENTALISED LIVES
“But the reality is that the main ethnic groups in Guyana live compartmentalised lives, whether in mixed communities or not, separated by our differences, and hardly ever interacting socially, culturally or politically. We are different nations, living separate lives, subsisting in the same homeland and competing for scarce resources,” the attorney stated.
The attorney said too that many believe that partisanship has always determined how the country’s resources are distributed and each side claims to have ‘proof’ of many examples to justify discrimination and need for redress.
“Guyana’s political course is no different from any other country with large ethnic groups. Our political parties have developed around our two large ethnic groups which, through ethnic-based political parties, compete with each other for political power. The intensity of the competition is conditioned by our own development.”
Ramkarran believes that the situation here is intense, perhaps conditioned by the killings, burnings and lootings of the 1960s and political disturbances more recently.
Additionally, the former speaker made the point that there have been many other challenges relative to corruption and the next elections.

NO DENT
Despite the loud talk, new policing laws and institutions, no dent in corruption has been noticed. It is as pervasive as it was in the past, though less noticeable because there is less government spending. This tells us that the culture of corruption, once entrenched, is extremely difficult to eradicate.
On the issue of selecting a new Chairman for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Ramkarran described the rejection of the first list submitted by the Opposition as “unexpected and surprising.”
“If the rumours that the second list is also to be rejected proves to be true, serious questions will emerge as to whether the APNU+AFC coalition government wants an independent chair and, if not, why not,” added Ramkarran.