THE concepts of forming coalitions, shared governance, and building trust are not new to the political and historic scenes in Guyana.

They are part and parcel of the development of the body of politics.

Yet, it seems that they are never really going to change the manner of interactions between political parties and people here because of the multifaceted cultures, races, and ethnicities that exist.

Each exists with a lack of basic trust for the others and a lack of respect for social, emotional and historic underpinnings for the others given their unique ‘Guyanese experience’ from early on through slavery, indentureship, colonialism and independence.

Fast track to 2023, and this suspicion and mistrust still exist and go away temporarily until it is provoked, excited or instigated to come back to the surface of politics.
So, in order for the coalitions, shared governance, and building trust to genuinely work to cement the present, future and aspirations of Guyana, there is a need to fix or solve the ethnic or race problem in Guyana once and for all.

Racism is an ugly thorn that rears its head only at the most critical of times and periods in the country’s history whenever important decisions have to be made about the balance of power, elections, governance and authority.

Minus these, there are very few circumstances where Guyanese experience racism in their daily life as they somehow find ways of living together as one with high levels of religious, ethnic, political and social tolerance.

So, the real political powers, the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) and the People’s National Congress Reform both have accused the other of being a racist party and practising racism.

While the PNC/R has only accusations made on the basis of ‘how something looks’, and general imagery, the PPP/C is winning the argument against this party because the PNC/R has no evidence but its leaders are felt every day supporting the racists that are seeking to divide the populace almost daily.

The PPP/C made it clear that the current Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton, is clandestinely practising racism internally and externally to seek to whip up votes for his bid to win local and general elections. They do not trust him because he does not look at any issue without race or ethnicity coming into sharp focus.

He is threading carefully with his whisper campaign against the PPP/C which is the reason why, according to the PPP/C, he could not offer a strong criticism and rebuke to what was said by the Working People Alliance (WPA) and Tucuma Ogunseye which was allegedly treasonous and excited racism.

Also, the Alliance for Change (AFC) had its own experience with the PNC/R and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), and racism that left it battered and worn.

Nobody would seek to trust the PNC as a political entity now. It’s isolated and alone. Knowing this to be true, it was led back to its old way of using the country’s race and ethnicity problems or insecurities to stay relevant and get votes.

The PPP/C is looking at the PNC/R to see if it is prepared to go all the way in pursuit of power. It is ready to use the law and order to whip the PNC/R, if needs be, to keep it in line with the expectations of a mature political unit.

Each time it acts irresponsibly and engages in temper tantrums or racist rhetoric publicly, the PPP/C is prepared to let the Police, Ethnic Relations Commission and all other willing civil society, diplomatic and nongovernmental organisations sacrifice the PNC/R for the good of the country.

And, the PPP/C General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo, has already openly said racists and Guyanese who support them are not welcome in his party as they will find it hard to survive because they will be chased out.

Similarly, President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali has vowed to trample and conquer the institution of racism, rooting it out wherever it rears its face in his PPP/C Government. Not to steal the thunder of Jagdeo, he made a commitment to move ahead with his policies and plans which would lead to a more unified, together and diverse country in the near future operating as ‘One Guyana’.

That is the only way that the aforementioned concepts can really have a chance at working for Guyana.

The PPP/C has shown that it has political maturity and genius to read the mood of the people now. It is unwilling to relive the 1968 to 1992 experience. It is not prepared to make the same missteps that its leaders made in the 1960s when Forbes Burnham turned down the offer of shared governance and chose his party over the country.

It is not prepared to endure any foolery, ingenuine and deceitfulness in politics. It is finished with placing political plasters on wounds and sores that cannot heal from the outside. The new PPP/C appears to focus on development, business and philosophy of engineering the growth of ‘One Guyana’.

Constitutional reform is underway but the PNC/R is still practising the politics of the past and fails every time to demonstrate seriousness and steadiness politically and as an integral partner in fighting racism.

It must genuinely commit to democracy and political transparency as a means of getting closer to forming a coalition that works behind the scenes as much as it does for the cameras, shared governance and building trust.

In any event, any form of shared governance at the level of the executive cannot be self-imposed but has to be mandated by the people, possibly through a referendum. In order for ‘One Guyana’ to succeed, PNC/R-engineered racism and division must be sacrificed at election time and generally.

Lastly, Hamilton Green and others like him are considered relics of Guyana’s sordid and troubling past and cannot offer the PPP/C, and PNC/R anything much.  Send them packing and focus on building an environment of political trust and confidence which is a necessary prerequisite for shared governance.

When the racial problem is solved and there has to be a commitment by the parties involved to shared values, including adherence to democratic norms and the rule of law, then Guyana will breathe and it will start a new era of development and issue-based politics.

Until then, any talk of shared governance and trust is hollow.