ON CORRUPTIONS THAT HAS BEEN GLARINGLY SEEN ON A DAILY BASIS:
EVEN THOSE ON GNI THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO DEFEND THE PPP/C ARE STAYING AWAY.......HOW CAN ONE DEFEND THE INDEFENSIBLE?
AS IS THE PPP/C WOULD NEED TO SHED THEIR PANTIES AND GROW SOME BALLS AND THEN CALL ELECTIONS:
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Is the PPP planning a snap poll? Ask that question six months ago, and most people would’ve said they doubt it. But the pressure by the international community for local government elections has created a huge quagmire for the PPP.
To call the local contest two years (it has to be held either in 2014 or 2015) before the next general elections is not a prospect the PPP is interested in. On the contrary, the party is afraid of it. It is not only the defeats that will occur in major towns, but there will be ignominy in many NDCs.
To enter into a general election after that, has to be a scary venture for the PPP. What it means then is that the PPP may want to call a snap election before the local government fiasco. Why would the PPP rush into another national poll?
Here are some reasons. First, it is becoming increasingly difficult to stop the crescendo of horribly bad publicity against the PPP that comes from every working session of Parliament. The PPP doesn’t care how effective is the opposition in Parliament. It could not be bothered with its incessant dismissal of the decisions of the House.
The main consideration is that each time Parliament meets there is a torrent of exposure of bad governance that takes a heavy toll on the PPP’s declining credibility. We are nearing the end of 2013, and if Parliament continues for the next thirty months, it will not be in the PPP’s interest to endure such biting exposure
In other words the PPP is in a no-win situation. The longer Parliament goes on the worse it is for the PPP’s image and the 10th Parliament will come to an end just before the 2016 election season begins. One way out of this hell-hole is to call a quick election and hope for a majority. Can the PPP win a majority? My opinion is no. It doesn’t have the demographic numbers.
The young population (over sixty percent is under 21, making Guyana one of the youngest countries on the globe) cannot be relied upon to demonstrate unyielding tribalist feelings. Thirdly, some terrible behavioural patterns by the ruling party will doom it. Fourthly, the strong support base in Berbice that it enjoyed for over sixty years has vanished.
Fifthly, the results of the last elections could have been better for both AFC and APNU. Their campaigns were not relentlessly energetic. They will not make that mistake this time around.
One of the first disappointments David Granger voiced after the election in 2011 was the colossal abstention (more than 100,000 eligible voters did not cast ballots). Granger knew that a sizeable chunk of that number would have gone to APNU.
The rational mind will think that the PPP cannot win. But the last thing dictatorships have is rationality. The PPP believes it can win. Two reasons drive it. It has a superabundance of resources, a tenth of which the opposition does not possess. Just one of the PPP’s ultra-wealthy backers could finance the PPP’s entire campaign. The party thinkers believe lack of resources will undo the opposition. It is really a silly analysis.
In 2011, for every dollar the opposition spent, the PPP spent a hundred, yet the PPP could not secure a majority. They are fooling themselves to think money can buy a victory.
The second motive has to do with psychology. Jagan is long gone but he left an imprint in the mind of every PPP leader, be that person old, young, male or female, in or out of Guyana – Indians are the exclusive ownership of the PPP.
Once Guyana has a PPP, no matter in what form or no matter how bad it behaves, Indians will embrace the party. For the PPP, the electoral behaviour of Berbicians (they switched to AFC and they also stayed home – 47 percent didn’t vote) in 2011 was just one of those things that will not re-occur.
The PPP will go back with Ramotar and Hinds because they know that among Indians, it doesn’t matter who you put, Indians are tied to the PPP. Throw in some nasty, racist propaganda and Indians will remain loyal. They have no choice, a PPP leader will tell himself or herself.
Readers looking at this column will know that it is a mirage. The young Indians are not so gullible. The young Indians will listen to Nagamootoo, Ramjattan, Ramkarran, Charrandas Persaud, Dr. Ramayya, Gerhard Ramsaroop and Rajendra Bisessar, among others.
Only the PPP cannot see this and they cannot see it because dictatorship and reality are antithetical. The opposition should not discount the possibility of a snap poll.
Dear Editor, Ever since 1999 this country has been plagued with bribery and corruption. It was not surprising, therefore, that provisions have been made in the Constitution for an Integrity Commission in clear recognition and acknowledgement of the fact that Guyanese are no longer living in the age when men were born gentlemen, but rather in the age when efforts are being made to make gentlemen by laws and regulations. Yet the regime has not been forthright with the nation in allowing the Integrity Commission to function independently of PPP control. The dictum that a man’s word is his bond has clearly lost all its intrinsic value and significance under this regime, hence the promulgation of the Integrity Commission. This law was passed, no doubt with the expectation of halting the escalation of corruption and dishonesty on the part of those in public life and those exercising public functions, but it has, it would seem, proven to be neither a palliative nor a panacea to reducing or eradicating corruption, except perhaps, to adorn our statute books with yet another law. It is significant to note, however, that while the law is one which primarily constitutes an invasion of one’s right to privacy, the enactment of the law has been justified on the ground of public interest, as opposed to the right of the individual. This is the message we want the PPP cabal to hear. The word integrity clearly connotes persons of unblemished character and strong moral principles and persons who are held in high esteem as exemplars and worthy of becoming persons in public life, such as Members of Parliament and those holding public office. However, empirical evidence has established that persons of such calibre are clearly scarce commodities in our society, especially in the PPP, and this conclusion may receive some support in a statement made some time ago by President Hoyte when he said that “selection of members of the Commission is not a matter to be rushed as these persons must be of the highest calibre and integrity.” Integrity is therefore not a commodity that can be taken off a shelf as this regime has done. The value and concept of the importance of integrity has to be nurtured and developed during a person’s formative years, failing which, the word becomes meaningless to those who are strangers to it. As human beings we are basically and fundamentally the product of our environment, so that a person born, nurtured and developed in an environment destitute of those intrinsic values would clearly be devoid of them. While we address our ministers in the PPP as “Honourable” (righteous and incorruptible), the personal honour to which the word owes its genesis or origin would seem to have lost much, if not all of its value and significance, since it has become imperative to enact laws and regulations, the purport and intent of which are to subject such persons to the submission of their incomes, assets and liabilities to the Integrity Commission on an annual basis for scrutiny, and for the purposes of declaring them to be persons of integrity. This constitutional mechanism has been predicated on the fact that Ministers and parliamentarians in the PPP regime have so misused and abused their powers and authority for personal gain and aggrandizement, that they should be found guilty of criminal offences. As a consequence, the question that has arisen from time to time is whether these PPP ministers and Parliamentarians should continue to be addressed as “honourable” or whether they should be addressed simply as Mr. or Ms. or just by their first names. Most Guyanese seem to have lost confidence and respect for the PPP cabal. One of the mind-boggling questions is therefore, whether legislation per se will stem the tide of the growing escalation of bribery and corruption on the part of those in public life or whether there should be put in place a comprehensive and intensive educational programme, designed to create an environment in which our children, who would be the adults of tomorrow, could be nurtured, developed and sensitized of the intrinsic value and significance of the principles of honesty and integrity. Since bribery and corruption would appear to be irrefutably endemic and pervasive in the regime and in the society, non-governmental organizations such as the Transparency Institute of Guyana, the Private Sector Commission, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the trade unions, among others, ought to collectively consider speaking out against and condemning the PPP regime for its failure to stop the growing escalation of corruption and bribery at all levels of government. And there is no better place to begin than with the contracts in which major kickbacks are offered in return for them. Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh
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