| October 5 signals empowerment for Guyanese- Teixeira |  |  |  |
| Written by GINA |
| Sunday, 07 October 2012 22:08 |
October 5, 1992 saw the hosting of the first free and fair General and Regional Elections in the history of Guyana to which the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) emerged victorious and since then the party’s outstanding democratic leadership that championed the cause of the working class has enjoyed 20 years of un-interrupted power.
 Gail Teixeira Teixeira said that there has been significant legislative and democratic transformation that has taken place over the past 20 years. “It is with pride that we talk about October 5…this time 20 years ago people were going to the polls in the first free and fair elections held in Guyana after a period of 28 years in which they were rigged elections… so October 5 was so special,” Teixeira asserted. She explained that there was a lone struggle for democracy after independence which the PPP endured and in 1992 emerged as the oldest opposition party that was kept out of power for 28 years to come back with an astounding majority. “October 5 signals the empowerment of our people…people expressing their choice and the support of the international observers…we came out of a situation where the majority of the people had no say in what went on…the PNC got 5 additional years without going to elections,” Teixeira explained.  Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali She added that one of the critical things her party fought for throughout all the period was the right to have electoral reform and the right to count the ballots at the place of poll, so no matter what happened to the ballot box afterwards, a statement of poll existed. “The only way to restore democracy was to host free and fair elections…the second phase was looking at putting in place the democratic framework which had been eroded, destroyed, undermined…Dr. Jagan’s first statement in Parliament as President was to do with making Parliament a deliberative forum and making it a law making place in which everyone had a voice…we also started the constitutional reform process in 1995,” Teixeira explained. She explained that when her party came into power, the process of constitutional reform was taken to the people as they recognised that was an important aspect of democracy, as such thousands of meetings were held countrywide and this saw the birth of a progressive, modern constitution. “The Human rights section of the 1988 constitution was not enforceable…the new constitution says that under the human rights section, anybody can go to the court…the second component was the creation of the rights commissions as an avenue for complaint …we also totally reformed parliament by bringing into the constitution, parliamentary reform,” Teixeira explained. Additionally, the country now benefits from a constitution which Britain does not have, and an inclusive governance model which is unique to Guyana where the Leader of the Opposition has a vote on the President of this country, in terms of constitutional appointees, the Presidential Adviser further explained. Ali asserted that in the media there is the purest manifestation of democracy as freedom of speech and expression is seen today in the media. “We understood that democracy brought with it certain challenges and if you want to ensure that a democracy grows and is tolerable, then you have to accept these as challenges…this (freedom of the media) from a time when situations like these would have never been tolerated is an unbelievable accomplishment.” He added that in the journey that came out of that democracy born in 1992 was a complex one, as lots of time was lost due to the unnecessary social dimension and pressure that was placed on the newly elected government, however the leadership of the PPP/C remained rational and stuck to the task of ensuring that democracy was won and upheld and did not fall to the partisan politics played out over the 20 years. Minister Ali explained that when democracy was won, the PPP/C government first ensured that the Auditor General performed his duties and audited financial reports were laid in the National Assembly and, that government was made accountable to the people, a thing did not previously exist. “The natural resources that the country has were all there but…inflation was triple digit, a debt burden of $2.1B and an empty treasury, 37% home loans and 42% industrial loans…today you can get a low income loan at 3.8%, the country’s debt burden is 52% less than it was in 1992, the country has a treasury with over $900B, the minimum wage today is livable and the poverty rate is only 38% compared to 75% in 1992…these all show what this new democratic society brought about,” Minister Ali explained. Minister Ali believes that the significant strides that were made towards democratizing the country, moreso the establishment of a strong regulatory and institutional framework with mechanisms must be guarded against, despite of the fact that elements are striving to shape the very foundation of those advancements. To commemorate 20 un-interrupted years in government, the PPP/C administration has planned a month of activities in varying regions which will depict its many accomplishments. |