I got a sneaky suspicion the tip of dat branch got cow itch rubbed on it.

We gotta watch dem.

The PPP got a chainsaw in the other hand.

It is a matter of trust. Let us see what happens since this can turn out to be a good thing for Guyana.

The General-Secretary's piece (speech or press release?) insults the senses. What place does "left national front alliance" have in Guyana's national dialog?

Mention is made of a "participatory democracy and inclusive governance". Even the hilarious Broadway show "Book of Mormons" would find it hard to top this. Where is a Constitution that limits the autocratic nature of the Presidency? Immune from prosecution....sic....where are the safeguards for mandatory local government elections? Why isn't political representation local? Like constituency elections instead of a national party slate. Why is the culture of political parties in Guyana so patrimonial?

Guyana's biggest problem is its politics. Fix that and everything else follows. We have to ask ourselves whether the exercise of party politics by the major parties (maybe the AFC is different from the other two) really helps. 

It it is disingenuous to speak platitudes about inclusivity and good governance when you have an oligarchy and everyone else who get scraps at the table of Guyana's national pie. 

So do nothing, business as usual and Al YUh SHUT Al YUh Trap. WE running things!!!!!

yuji:

* Read kari's post above.

* The Rev agrees 99%.

* Rohee and the PPP really think people stupid.

Rev

Pavi, it would help to see other responses before expressing frustration. I know you mean well, and the phobia of a return to an old fictional PNC is real for you and some on this Board. Maybe the PPP needs a refresh. This can be generational and we can get a good leadership but right now a lot of lives may trudge along, but when you visit Guyana and see how much more talented Guyanese are and how a good majority live it must shame your senses.

I appreciate hour response Rev ...... and the other 1%?

The Honorable Minister IS appealing to ALL Guyanese to work towards the Progress and Prosperity of ALL Guyana. You take liberty at lambasting the honorable gentleman for doing so.

Pavi, the questions raised are all legitimate, timely, and addresses the vacuous message that has to insult even your understanding of good governance and society's development. Ask yourself if your experiences of the American system of divided government where power resides with the governed jive with the Westminster's winner-take-all.

I will not get into an apple/oranges discussion with you. There are many Westminister type Govt that are doing great all over the World.

Guyana is politically immature and it's civil structure is like a baby seal getting its head bashed in. A  republican-style democracy where power comes from the people (like the USA) will help against nepotism and oligarchy, don't you think?

Absolutely!!! The current System where POWER is centralize is harmful BUT that is what we have.

talking the talk and walking the walk is two different thing every guyanese know what rohee say is bullshit we have hear this shit over and over all fancy words but no merit 

Why is the ruling PPP/C only now calling for an alliance?

In 1992, when the PPP/C won the elections convincingly, and being intoxicated with a truimphalist spirit, the PPP/C didn't offer the defeated PNC and WPA an alliance gesture.

Neither did the PPP/C speak of alliance after convincingly winning elections again in 1997, 2001 and 2006.

Having barely got a minority government in 2011, knowing that its traditional Indian support base is shrinking through disaffection and migration, seeing the writing on the wall in upcoming elections, now is naturally the time for the PPP/C to speak alliance politics.

And, as Kari has noted, not any alliance but a left national front alliance with a working-class orientation. Immediately, this should raise a red flag for private sector supporters.

Let's wait and see who will bite the bait.

No one has to bite any bait. The Honorable Minister made a gesture and that is all to it. WE can continue as usual for the next 4 years and then the People of Guyana will decide. It is that simple.

Well you know the PPP is in trouble if even rev agrees with you.

All they have left are simpletons like Nehru and racists like skeldonman.

What the PPP has is REAL Guyanese in Guyana benefitting from their Leadership and that is what counts.

bai the only guyanese that is benefiting is the ppp cronies check out pradoville 1 and 2

You seem to know something about Suriname.  How is there politics different.  Is it because rather than having two groups, not vastly different in size, as we have in Guyana, they have four major groups, Hindustanis, Creoles, Javanese, and the Maroons? 

Trinidad's historically large mixed population (ours is only now becoming large, and many are still below voting age) and its very economically dominant Syrian/creole white populations seemed to have dulled the edges on that islands, leading to the existence of a maybe 20% swing vote.  The PNM got stomped last national elections, but seems to be roaring back now that Kamla's coalition is becoming frayed.

But we have an elected dictatorship that might be weakening as its core base shrinks, and as many younger and/or urban members leave its flock. 

A Jamaican PhD student, in analyzing Guyana and T&T noted a much more tribal environment in Guyana, as well as a much weaker sense that non governmental entities could have input, thus leading to a much more frustrated and passive population.  Its sometimes interesting to hear what outsiders say and see.

The Surinamese demographics means a lot of horse-trading and changing alliances. It resulted today in a (murdering and drug-convicted) Bouterse who is in power because of the Somohardjo (the Indonesian PL) support and it is well known that he's in it for money and power.

Trinidad has the balancing demographics. Guyana is still largely binary and I think the mixed race take sides rather than be a balancing act in the polling dance. But it's an interesting observation, CaribJ

Politics indeed is the greatest problem in Guyana.

Perhaps, one solution is to place all of the individuals - from President, Past Presidents, Ministers, Assistants, etc., - in small boats each comprising of political individuals from all political organisations and set them out to the ocean only to return if indeed they have solutions that benefit the country and not themselves.

Most likely, the individuals remaining in Guyana would live in a far more comfortable situation and managing the affairs first and foremost for the benefit of Guyanese and Guyana.

Well said DG.

We must pressure our parties for genuine change. No more lip service. We love our country and we must all send a message to the politicians who are full of ego and feel that they are above the law.

The PPP/PNC/AFC need to sit down and seek a solution to Guyana's problems. Guyana is seeing development but the majority of Guyanese are not part of the economic success.

How can some people sleep at night when their neighbour is starving ? Guyana has lost a morale compass and I honestly hope the we remember the honest politicians of Guyana who are no longer with us.

Its time the joint opposition stop playing partisan politics and work hand in hand with the democratically elected Government towards the development of the state.

Rev

I will be lying if I said that I disagree. He hit the nail on the head. Are our politicians listening ? Guyana's problem is indeed it's politics.

Kari for Minister of Constitutional Affairs and Social and Economic development. He is currently in Suriname, he can just sail across and take charge.

Rev can take charge of Finance.

Yuji, Equal Religious Rights for All. Not interested in a position in any government.

The PPP Government FAILED to conduct extensive consultations in preparing the 2014 BUDGET.

The draft BUDGET was not disseminated even with the Parliamentary parties, much less FITUG and the TUC (Unions).

All the budget meetings are deemed a STATE SECRET and clearly does not provide the PPP an opportunity to engage with a broad range of stakeholders (including non-governmental organizations, civil society, members of political parties, members of Parliament, and neighborhood democratic councils, the religious community, the Unions).

Thus the Budget once again will be a flawed document and will have to be reduced again since it does not meet the needs of the people.

 
Why is the PPP not allowing itself to hear from the people so that the Final Budget reflects the will of the people rather than the Will of SHATIE = ASH (got this one from Kaiteur News)?

Are the wishes and desires of the people in the 2014 Budget?

Where is the transparency?

MORE WAR in 2014!

WHAT DO YOU THINK YUJI?

I believe that 2014 is the year in which the PPP will reach out to the opposition. Failure to do so will bring the country further instability. Yuji is listening and I hope that the PPP is listening too.

The opposition must also be sincere in their effort to put Guyana first and not stall in Parliament. The good people of Guyana are fed up with partisan politics and want to see Guyana move forward.

Guyana's problem is politics as quoted from Kari. All sides need to show political maturity.

As of this evening, the situation is getting clearer.

According to Demerara Waves, the PPP/C call is not directed at the AFC and APNU.

The left patriotic front alliance the PPP/C has in mind seems to be a Civic version 2.

Demerara Waves says this new alliance is the PPP/C strategy to regain its parliamentary majority next elections.

See http://bit.ly/1crD2rl

Gil

Yuji slipped up here. Good catch.

Here is the full Demerara Waves report:

PPP embarks on "broad left" electoral strategy

The governing Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) has announced a new political strategy to attract more non-members in the hope of regaining its parliamentary majority at the next general and regional elections.

PPP General Secretary, Clement Rohee said the Marxist-Leninist oriented party has decided to establish a “broad left, progressive, democratic front” involving a number of categories of stakeholders including politicians and organisations from across the social and political divide. The PPP hopes the broad left model will also attract working people, farmers, intellectuals, professionals, the business community, NGOs and all Guyanese to assist in establishing a National Democratic State.

“It touches on almost every social strata of society who are desirous of playing a role in nation building so there may be people in this front who admire the idea… but they are not a member of the PPP, they are not a left-leaning person, they are just patriotic and nationalist,” Rohee told Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com) on Friday.

Pointing to the creation of the Reform component of the Peoples National Congress Reform and the formation of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), Rohee said the “broad left” approach is part of the PPP’s plan going into the next election.

“All these are what you call electoral strategies that political parties would adopt…You have to look at politics in a very dynamic way. The political parties have to make the necessary adjustments in keeping with the new realities that are emerging in the country in order to ensure not only relevance but vibrancy and continuity,” said Rohee.

Political pundits outside the PPP say that party hopes to revive a 1970s model to confront the opposition which now controls the 65-member National Assembly by one seat. The PPP has conceded that it needs to work hard to regain its simple majority because of a younger voting population, short memories of the past under the PNC by older persons, complacency and apathy.

Rohee acknowledged that the broad left did not differ much from the Civic component of non-PPP members who wanted to make a contribution to national development.. we will be working to embrace and individuals who are prepared to commit themselves in this direction,

“It’s not very different. The only difference is that it’s a front. It’s more organised, it’s not a loose thing of people who are part of a front and committed to a programme,” he said.

For the first time in Independent Guyana, the National Assembly is controlled by the Opposition.

Government has complained bitterly that its programmes and policies are being frustrated by the opposition – APNU and Alliance For Change (AFC) – using its one seat majority to vote down aspects of the National Budget and block the enactment of certain laws.

On the other hand, the opposition says its only aim is to ensure tougher laws, accountability and transparency rather that corruption, nepotism and other forms of maladministration.

 I agree with what you said in general but would add that specifically political systems coerce political attitudes. Ours allow for the continued political bifurcation by race and the pretense of the autocratic government to democracy.

It is increasingly becoming clear to the curious that the PPP, the PNC and the AFC by their lack of anyone commenting systematically on these failures is selling us a bill of goods. I do not blame the fellow above for writing as he does. That is the culture of the PPP and its supporters. The office and the prerogatives of autocracy are a cultural prize. Indians in general do not care they are raped by the PPP and it friends and family gang.Better our mangy dog than theirs and this is all because of the architecture of our political system.

The berbice river bridge  for example  elicit no academic commentary given its onerous, usurious fees on poor people. Note the Berbice toll gates were seen as a tax on Indians and commented on as such in numerous circles inclusive of the PPP. It's fees were paltry given the road was build by the state and no less as investment as this bridge was. Worse, the people supplied 80 percent of the funds to build this bridge and it is 100 percent controlled by crones of the PPP.

We need critical analysis's by our academicians. We need illuminating and honest discussion on these issues by all parties.

Indeed there is truth to the "our mangy dog is better than theirs" credo. I spoke to a childhood friend from Greenwich Village near Parika last weekend and while he understands the nepotism in Guyana today he sees this PPP as if it's the 60s. The middle class and academia that Danyael longs for are in the Diaspora and don't have the critical mass at home. 

The PNC leader represents a significant portion of the population that by any measure is locked out of the growth others experience. The PNC needs a "community out-reach arm" separate from its political arm. Granger brings more assets than Corbin.

The AFC, by its origins represents more of a lightening rod. This is where Moses and Ramjattan excel. If they continue to eat into the support base of both major parties (and they have the track record) you can get the political balance to negate the binary polarity we see and it's resultant "mangy dog" situation. The generational and demographic changes are good signs. This iteration of the PPP May not be up to the changes necessary to remain in power long. 

AFC indeed had a "shot" at being an independent political organization by being distinctly apart from both the PPP/C and the PNC.

However, immediately after the 2011 election, the AFC became tightly interwoven with the PNC ... and the rest is on-playing and will be history.

I spoke to a childhood friend from Greenwich Village near Parika last weekend and while he understands the nepotism in Guyana today he sees this PPP as if it's the 60s. The middle class

Kari, Do you care to expand on that please?

This is what the problem is with our political immaturity. To hold the Government accountable means to align with the PNC on Parliamentary matters. This is what D_G means by "tightly interwoven". 

when we get past the notion that to be pro-Indian means anti-Black or vice versa, in a Guyana context, then we would have become a more intelligent nation. This is the challeng for D_G - to become smarter than making the AFC out to be tightly interwoven with the PNC as his trump intellectual argument for the AFC being a stupid party and for the brilliance of the PPP.

the question is, will you rise to that challenge, D_G?

Others see the KFC as Traitors and since we have a Democracy people like your childhood friend has a RIGHT to their opinion.

Not only with reading, but understanding and grasping the issues, you indeed will then realize my views.

Don't know if you saw Goldrush last night.  Very unflattering descriptions of Guyana.  The miners see it as lawless, dangerous, and packed with impoverished and desperate people.  They do not show the armed guards on the show but they are there.

This is Guyana of the PPP.  As bad as life was under Burnham, and I am a frequent critic of him, it was NOT like that.  Now some, including I will argue that his destruction of Guyana contributed to the development of attitudes that now make that country unpleasant. But Jagdeo and the whole Roger Khan/phantom issue contributed. 

The fact is that when the perception of exclusion correlates with ethnic identity, a powder keg is lit. It feeds on itself so that when an ethnic group feels excluded, an oppositional attitude develops with the resulting pathologies. This is also complicated by the fact that many less well off Indians also feel left out by the PPPs crony corruption.  Growing crime among young Indian males is also a symptom of this hopelessness.

I only wish that the middle class elites, instead of cowtowing to the PPP, to get the plate of soup, stood up and provided leadership that our political establishment does not, and maybe cannot provide.

While much of the middle class intellect resides outside of Guyana, do not under estimate that a new middle class has emerged, sadly not possessing the intellectual honesty of the many who left.  And I cite people like Nigel Hughes as an example.  Criticizing Amaila Falls in public, yet privately benefitting from it.

It is also interesting that the PPP screams about how Guyana is progressing because Goldrush is being filmed in Guyana.  That series will have a negative impact on how Guyana is viewed in the USA, as Jonestown did.  Not because they set out to do so, but because they have to go to great lengths to protect the miners and the others while they are in Guyana.

The PPP is so stupid that they don't know how to utilize international media. Maybe they shouldn't have allowed the series in, knowing that they have no idea what's going on in the interior, and lack any ability to protect foreigners on a filming project.

Indeed its to the credit of the producers that they pay for armed guards, because nothing would be more ruinous to Guyana's image than to see bandits invading that camp, the bandits being either Guyanese or Brazilians.