The heckling and booing of President Ramotar by his own supporters

Dear Editor, The heckling and booing of President Ramotar in his own yard serves as a reminder that you can fool some of the people some of the time, some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. Never in the history of Guyana can it be recalled any PPP leader being booed by their supporters and since the PPP engineered resuscitated FITUG, no PPP and union leaders have ever been heckled at their May Day Rally. What these actions made clear is that the workers have had enough and while for years many have quietly expressed their disappointment in the stewardship of their country, on May Day that quiet expression became vocal and overwhelming. This should be a lesson not only for the PPP, but for those labour leaders who continue to fool and exploit the people and become extensions of political parties, and lose the focus of their labour mandate to represent the workers who rely on them to help create a worker-friendly industrial climate. What these developments signal is the evolution of our political environment from the maximum and charismatic leaders to people exercising their power to give direction to their desires. And more so, removing from government officials that carte blanche opinion that they can use state and political power to silence the masses and secure complicity. This rebirth of political revolution to question leaders in the 21st century was made real in the 2012 Linden/Region 10 struggles under the youthful leadership of Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon. It was this community that stood up to the national leaders and their party leaders, demanding respect for their right to inclusion in decision making, consistent with Article 13 of the Guyana Constitution that requires of the nation the practice of inclusionary democracy. This Principal Political Objective of the State requires the involvement of persons in decision-making that affect their wellbeing and while some may not be aware of this constitutional requirement, instinctively man’s desire for equality, respect and to be treated with dignity, will make him react against forces that seek to suppress and trample these principles and values. What we are witnessing in Guyana today is an advancement of the masses to take control of their destiny and to put public leadership in its rightful place as servant not master. This progressive thinking and movement is also influenced by information communication technologies where we have the benefit of observing in real time how other societies function and deal with their challenges, as we too become involve in expressing our views to what is taking place internationally and what we desire at home. Any government or political party that ignores the tea leaves does so at their peril. People are more empowered today about their rights in society which are guided by acceptable international standards. And these are the tenets upon which they expect their business to be transacted. The failure of any government to confirm will evoke the wrath of the people who are not afraid today to stridently take position to fire a government and to hire a new one! This society is conscious that the moneys that pay the parliamentarians and those entrusted the responsibility of the state belong to the people and not a political party. And more so, that the moneys come from the people through taxation. While change in Guyana appears to come slowly, the benefit of it is that it advances stability and is likely to last longer. A humbug to this change is that of the slow takeover of the minds through years of brainwashing that would make it take longer to unlearn. Coming to office in 1992 on the wave of the nation’s goodwill rather than build on the foundation laid and working towards developing a nation and national unity, some leaders in the PPP spent the time enriching themselves, families and cronies; securing personal gains; undermining state institutions and national security; trampling on the citizens’ rights; securing themselves through misrepresentation and undermining of laws. The rule of fear and ruthlessness become the order by which they instituted themselves in government. The PPP squandered several opportunities to make all Guyanese feel represented, protected and a beneficiary in the Guyanese economy. For the first time in the history of post independent Guyana, Guyanese can truly say that there is a growing sense, based on indisputable evidence and not orchestrated political propaganda that the government does not care about them. All Guyanese deserve to be led by a government that recognises that post-election must be a period of healing, of moving forward, building bridges and governing in the interest of all, and resist the temptation of serving only supporters. The moneys to run a country come not only from the elected government supporters but also from those who did not support them as their choice for leadership. Societies are best served by leaders who recognise the importance of forging a nation and united people for national development.

Lincoln Lewis