THE Co-operative Republic of Guyana had recently been launched into unwarranted political challenges by insurrectionary parliamentary action taken by the Opposition PPP/C to unseat the APNU/AFC Government by a no-confidence vote in the nation’s Parliament.

Two layers of the judiciary have since spoken: One on Friday invalidated the passage of the motion, ruling that the opposition needed 34 and not 33 votes to have successfully passed its no-confidence motion.

The party has since indicated that it will challenge this decision at the Caribbean Court of Justice. In the meantime, the full functioning of Cabinet, Parliament and the government continues.

The PPP/C has served 23 years in office from 1992 to 2015. APNU/AFC so far has served only three years in office. Regularly scheduled general elections are constitutionally due in 2020, less than two years from now. Yet, the PPP/C, overly eager to return to power, tried to outmanoeuver the APNU/AFC Coalition Government by upsetting its majority in a no-confidence motion by persuading an AFC Member of Parliament to switch sides and cast a vote with them.

This no-confidence vote did not only threaten the tenure of the APNU/AFC Government, but has also shone the spotlight on the foibles of the fledgling Guyana Constitution.
The PPP/C has been fostering a highly dubious narrative that the APNU/AFC Government is incompetent and corrupt, and therefore must be removed from office after only three years, and without further delay. The party is also confident that it can win the upcoming elections and return to ruling the country. Problem is, the PPP/C ruled Guyana for 23 years, with a long list of highly unsatisfactory outcomes. Guyana, from 1992 – 2015, remained an underdeveloped country, with widespread and deep poverty and inequalities among its people. The educational system deteriorated, with most schools starved for resources.

The University of Guyana was left to atrophy from lack of funding. Conditions at that institution were abysmal, with cows occupying its classrooms and high weeds covering its Turkeyen campus. Teachers, nurses and public servants were paid starvation wages. Both the sugar and bauxite industries were severely diminished. The Capital City, Georgetown, the town of Linden and other communities were starved of resources. Narco-trafficking was rife, with the country being typified in international circles as a narco-state.

Governmental corruption was both rampant and brazen. Constitutionally mandated Local Government elections were ignored by the PPP/C government, if not abandoned altogether. Widespread robberies and violent crimes induced a sense of insecurity and peril in the population. Significantly, there were numerous extra-judicial killings. Throughout the years of inept rule, the Guyanese people, mainly supporters of the PPP/C, fled the country in droves for safety and succor in foreign lands. The Guyanese people must not forget the travesty, the trauma and the pain they were caused by PPP/C governance.

This is by no means to suggest that the incumbent APNU/AFC Coalition Government is not guilty of missteps during its brief three years in office. But this government has undoubtedly restored a strong sense of security, integrity and stable democratic governance to the country. The strength of the APNU/AFC is that it is a well-intentioned coalition government, meaningfully representative of all sectors of the Guyanese populace, and dedicated to the country’s development and nation building.

The weakness of the APNU/AFC is that it is a coalition Government impacted by the stasis of accountability to all its constituents, while not yet being able to please all. This coalition dilemma of togetherness must be resolved going forward, if the APNU/AFC is to continue to be an effective political force in Guyana. It is not only about good governance; it is also about good politics.

The PPP/C is undergoing its own internal crisis of severity. It is a struggle for leadership that is simmering like goat milk waiting to boil over on its encrusted undemocratic party leadership structure. Former President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo is the leader of the PPP/C party. He has ruled Guyana for 12 of the 23 years his party was in office; far more than any other Executive President.

The Caribbean Court of Appeal has ruled that no President must serve more than two terms.  Yet, he would not relinquish leadership and control of his party, seemingly determined not only to be its kingmaker and puppet master, but also its only voice. Hopefully, this party will in time rid itself of the tyranny of its circumstances.

The abidinglesson, however, for all political parties involved, and for the Guyanese people, is the pressing necessity to reform the country’s Constitution as soon as possible.