Dear Editor,
THERE has been much talk (mostly lip service) about constitutional reform in Guyana, but nothing has materialised. Now we have a stalemate even though it is obvious as to who won the March 2 elections. I have written letters before, published in Kaieteur News, that “Guyana needs a national front government”. (NOVEMBER 26, 2010 ), and “ Now is the opportune time for an all-inclusive national front government ( Feb 13, 2019), but politicians who want to hog power indefinitely in a winner-takes-all dispensation are not interested in this scenario; they only hint about power sharing perfunctorily before elections , ignore it when in government and seem serious about it when in opposition. The truth is that no one wants to share power when in government, due to a pathological power-drunk obsession. Demographic composition and indoctrination by the older generation (among other contributing factors) has caused Guyanese to, for the most part, vote according to race. This is understandable since one’s proclivities are conditioned by history and socialisation. Countries with major racial compositions, such as Fiji, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Belize and Guyana, need the first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system in order to elect their representatives in the national assembly. Trinidad and Tobago and Belize, as well as several other Caribbean countries, the USA, Canada, UK , India , Pakistan , and in all, a quarter of the countries in the world have this system. It is the most suitable system in situations where there are cosmopolitan, multiracial, multicultural populations and people are inclined to vote according to race and cultural appreciation.
The other countries, three quarters, which have the Proportional Representation (PR) and other electoral systems have these systems because of their demographic composition and other dispensations. Guyana had the FPTP system, which was fostered by the British, up to the early 1960s but was changed by politicians who wanted to monopolise power.
Editor, I herewith submit that the FPTP system be reintroduced in Guyana. I, a Guyanese, lived and taught in Belize for seventeen years where I voted (as a registered voter and citizen) and in several national and municipal elections. I have first-hand experience of how the FPTP system works. Each constituency/division has an area representative elected by the electorate. If a division is predominately of one race (be it Creoles/Blacks, Mestizo. Garinagu) people choose according to who they think can best serve their interests. The various races intermix and do not vote exclusively for race. I, while a public servant, worked as a presiding officer at a polling place in the 1990s and a counting agent during that same period and can assure you that the election results were declared within one day.
In the FPTP the area representative, minister or not, (all cannot be ministers) is duty bound to serve in the interest of their constituents (people in the division). If, perchance, they do not deliver they have to face the voters in four years. The prime minister sanctions/reprimand and/or dismiss any corrupt minister who is without integrity or found to be tarnishing the image of the government. Editor, we need the FPTP electoral system here in Guyana and I sincerely hope that the new government will let good sense prevail and reintroduce it.
Sincerely,
Karan Chand
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_07_21_2020