THIS is Part 3 and the conclusion of my reply to Dr. Bertrand Ramcharran, who titled his Stabroek column last Tuesday as “Wither Guyana: Autocracy or Democracy”. This headline catches your eyes, and your curiosity becomes heightened because you want to see the enumeration of the autocratic contents of the Ali presidency.

But there is an anti-climax. The screaming headline not only disappoints but descends into mediocrity and comicality. To prove the anti-climax, we have to quote Ramcharran. Here are the expressions of autocracy in Guyana.

“In Guyana, we have recently seen official inquisitions into the tax status of NGOs, calls for new laws to ‘regulate’ NGOs, and public campaigns of vilification against particular NGOs and their leaders.
There are shades of autocracy here, without a doubt. And Guyana has also seen ‘highest level’ admonitions of judges carrying out their duties in good faith. There are also other shades of autocracy: Parliamentary scrutiny of governmental activity is minimal, if existent. Governmental consultation with the opposition is hardly existent. Oil money has made the government lush with funds for information campaigns.”

Are these autocratic pathways? It would take several columns to describe how these so-called autocratic directions exist in all, not most, but all of the developed democracies in the West and the post-colonial democracies in the Third World. In the US, the Biden administration has been harsh in its disapproval of many recent Supreme Court decisions. President Biden has now tabled legislative proposals to reform the Supreme Court.
I have dealt in Part 2 with the mediocre argument of Ramcharran that the government’s criticism of NGOs constituted autocratic directions. In fact, it is infantile reasoning to chastise a government for confronting its critics. Why should governments not be no-nonsense with propagandistic critics? When one refers to a government heading into autocratic corridors, you are talking about victimisation, assault, persecution and prosecution of the opposition parties, legal and physical attacks on the media, the trade unions, the judiciary, civil society organisations, but most of all the eradication of the right to protest and demonstrate.

In Guyana, in all of the spheres listed above, Guyana can be positively compared to the countries of the world. We have in Guyana certain civil society organisations that literally hate the government, and relentlessly attack the PPP leadership. There was a recent teachers’ strike that took place for 75 days.

Unlike the thousands that have been arrested and brutalised for demonstrating against genocide in Gaza in many of the Western democracies, in Guyana, State security and the police, as a matter of policy, do not break up opposition demonstrations and arrest protestors.

In Guyana, the private media practises the journalism of anti-governmentalism that takes on shades of opposition parties. Inside this journalistic jungle is a shocking revelation that makes a mockery of the thesis of Ramcharran. Here now is a disclosure which Dr. Ramcharran should be told about. Do you know the financial state of Stabroek News (SN) is so precarious that without State advertisements, the paper will be in serious trouble?

Unlike the Kaieteur News, Guyana Times and the Chronicle, SN is not available Online for free. The paper relies on diaspora subscription plus State placements to make ends meet. Three reasons explain this. The rise of social media has generated redoubtable competition for newspapers. Secondly, the advertising dollar has unlimited numbers asking for it. The billboards, the Online newscasts, television stations and social media are now competing with newspapers for that dollar. Thirdly, printed circulation has gone down terribly.

Against this dire situation, SN stays alive because of State advertisement. Now please do not take my word for it. After I give you the cost for advertising space, take a calculator, and see the money SN gets from the government that it hates and heaps political, racial and cultural insults on almost on a daily basis.

Here is the cost. Full-page colour for Sunday is $172, 368. Full-page black-and-white for Sunday is $114, 912. Full-page colour for weekdays is $114, 912 and full-page, black-and-white for weekdays is $76, 608. Naturally, half-page will be half the price. Now pick up any Sunday SN, and you will see the staggering amount of State placements. It is simply staggering the amount of money SN makes monthly from State patronage. Take that colossal sum away and SN will fall.

Finally, Guyana is autocratic according to the wisdom of Bertrand Ramcharran, because there is hardly any dialogue by the government with the opposition, and oil money gives the ruling party the capacity to mount information campaigns. I hope Guyanese wherever they are can see how silly some of the people are that criticise the Ali presidency

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.