Dear Editor,
Two years onwards from the most flagrant and provocative ‘bright-daylight’ robbery attempts at stealing the right to govern in Guyana, the dawn of a new era emerges!
His Excellency, President Dr Irfaan Ali, and Dr Bharrat Jagdeo are now supported by a strong ‘One Guyana Team’ providing exemplary leadership in moving the country forward and adrenalizing like movements in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) region.
Thanks to the bold and fearless stand international and CARICOM regional leaders took as a collective, this APNU/AFC/PNC malignant tumour, the most significant threat to democracy in Guyana, and the destabilization of the region was rejected and repelled.
The gouging process exposed and emphasized the need for internal healing through the corrective strengthening of the democratic pillars at the international, national, and internal community levels.
From the Guyana perspective, the replenishment of the latter is tied to and built on the timely cycles of Local Government Elections, while the former are orchestrated through the foreign policy framework of forging meaningful partnerships with other states in realizing the synergies from trade and other cooperation agreements established.
In addressing the foregoing key components, one must recognize an existing framework in which the many developing countries in transition have for decades, failed to sufficiently converge on anticipated developmental growth targets of key global and regional agreements.
From another perspective, one may argue that many of these agreements, albeit adjustments, are failing their members. Almost all of the regional, international and even the global hemispheric – United Nations are losing their sphere of influence and real purpose in sufficiently protecting the most vulnerable.
Consequently, exogenous factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences, the world’s climate crisis, and particularly the Russia /Ukraine war have increased volatility and uncertainty, demanding immediate and meaningful interventions by our leaders; to arrest the emerging food-security crisis ensuring our citizens, the region, and the world become a better and safer place to co-exist.
The Guyana-CARICOM experience of 2020, confirms the fostering of fair and justified democratic harmony as a key and necessary essential to set the platform for effective cooperation among our sister states. In this regard, the recent Guyana and Barbados partnership and respective Agri-forum, exemplify how the region could teamwork to reduce individual investment risks,while guaranteeing competitive internal supply and markets.
President Ali’s initiative-driven approach, coupled with the incorporation of a time-bound implementation schedule, serves to establish a somewhat controlled environment for delivery, charting a path for the swift removal of long-burdensome barriers that have long plagued regional progress. It builds on previously advanced opportunities such as the Jagdeo Initiative, that our states failed to capitalize on and the obvious resulting high opportunity costs borne at the individual levels.
The expressions of will and commitments made at the CARICOM level, confirm that the breath of fresh air and relief induced to catalyze and optimize results from the slow-paced implementation of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.
Notwithstanding other regional leaders, Guyana’s President Ali and Prime Minister Mia Motley of Barbados boldly and fearlessly lead the way. It cannot be denied that it was the unity of democratic purpose, which harmonized the entire Caribbean and the larger world to return peace and democracy to our land. However, our democracy is certainly pivotal to the further strengthening of CARICOM and today the Caribbean countries are indeed united and working to make this part of the world a better place for our people to live.
With the necessary adjustments, a template for the swift re-mobilization of CARICOM gains is the new beacon of hope. As this model is operationalized, one must never forget the role of ‘Proletarian Internationalism” and ‘Peaceful Coexistence.”
The world desperately needs a New Economic Order and issues impacting global crises must be confronted peacefully. The region must now move as a collective in advancing the interests of our states at the relevant international and multilateral fora. Congratulations to President Dr Irfaan Ali, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, and all embracing the One Guyana Team.
On the local democratic front, the holding of Local Government Elections (LGEs) is the most significant conduit to ensuring local democracy. While the PPP/C Government is certainly doing a great job to develop the country at the national and international levels, it is imperative that the various levels of our democracy also be more inclusive.
Parallel democratic policies and supporting pillars must be used to uphold and sustain the crest on which we preach, lest we are bound to fall!
GECOM’s recently concluded continuous registration process was highly successful and this augurs well for the run-off of LGEs. The togetherness and work done by the GECOM staff with the political parties’ scrutineers as counterchecks must be complimented. The results confirm that 72,061 transactions were completed. These include 21,129 persons over 18 years who were registered. Twenty-eight thousand one hundred and fifty (28,150) persons between the ages of 14-17 years were registered, while there were 4,629 transfers and 6,530 changes/corrections.
There were also 7,680 replacements of ID cards and 1,943 photo retakes.
With the completion of a successful continuous registration, GECOM must work out a proper timeline for the holding of LGEs. The local democracy will give our people at the grassroot level an opportunity to work together and strengthen development at the lower level. Our local democracy must be more inclusive and this will bring tremendous development and build unity as a whole!
The transparent GECOM processes should be supported.

Yours sincerely,
Neil Kumar