Dear Editor,
WE cannot continue with the normal system of governance if it is the problem. This winner-take-all system of governance seems to be the underlying cause of the current political impasse. We are at that juncture in our history where neither of the two major races desires or intends to be governed by the other; that is the ugly truth. The tokenism of having a few persons of the other race in the Executive is a sham, and will not work, because the people whom they are purported to represent do not recognise them as their representatives.
The winner-take-all system has made a mockery of our motto of “one people, one nation, one destiny”, and is the Achilles heel which stands in the way of our development. The racial division in our country is too deep to continue another electoral term with such a tumultuous and disruptive system.
The leaders bury their heads in the sand and blind themselves to the reality of the trauma that is inflicted on the nation every five years. From all appearances, our leaders and our society may never reach the level of maturity required for that system to work. So we must disband it as soon as possible.
In the meantime, what do we do? What if we, the people, put forward a proposal to our leaders for their urgent consideration; a proposal which will guarantee that there will be no looser when the elections results are finally announced.
For example:
Requiring all contesting parties in the elections to sign an Accord for the sharing of the Executive, as control of the Executive seems to be the root cause of our problems.
The Accord may include some of the following:
1. Agreement for the presidency to be awarded to the party with the largest number of seats won at the elections, and the office of prime minister to the runner-up.
2. That Members of Parliament will no longer represent any political party but instead will represent the people.
3. That there will be no government or opposition sides in Parliament. Instead, upon taking the oath of office, all Members of Parliament will sever allegiance to their respective political parties and become Representatives of the People. Consequently, they would be required to support or oppose matters brought before them as they see fit. As representatives of the people each MP will be assigned to a geographic constituency to whom he/she is accountable.
4. That the President must consult and obtain the agreement of the Prime Minister for the appointment of Cabinet.
5. That Cabinet positions will be allocated to the political parties contesting the elections proportionate to the number of seats won.
6. However, in order to facilitate the electoral process, in order not to unduly complicate it, the status quo for regional and general elections may remain. Representatives will continue to be members of political parties and campaign under such arrangements, but once elected to parliament, they will discontinue their allegiance to the parties and become representatives of the people.
Editor, it is said that the difference between a pessimist and a realist is that “the pessimist sees the dark tunnel, the optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel, but the realist sees the train coming”. Fellow Guyanese, with regard to the current political impasse, which are you? I have chosen to be a realist, and urge you to do the same. Based on the revelations and speculations coming out of the recount process, one has to be hearing and visually-impaired not to see the “train” coming. So, unless we can urgently devise a plan to stop it, it will surely run us over.
Regards,
Winston Richards
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_30_05_2020