UN ideals of good governance have not been practiced by the PPP
DEAR EDITOR, For years, Guyanese all over the world have heard the term “good governance and bad governance” used repeatedly in several areas of society. Governance is really about the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are formulated and implemented or not implemented. The concepts of good and bad have and continue to be used to assess the performance of governments in Guyana and elsewhere. For most Guyanese, especially the opposition, bad governance is seen as the root cause of many of the social ills and moral and physical decay in society. They have associated bad governance with injustice, corruption, crime, the squandering of taxpayers’ money, poor economic decisions, vindictive actions against opponents of the PPP regime and several others too numerous to mention. According to the United Nations, there are eight major characteristics of good governance. Firstly, there must be participation directly or indirectly by both men and women and the population in general. Second is rule of law, which requires fair legal frameworks that are enforced impartially so that the citizens could have confidence in and have respect for jurisprudence in their respective territories. The UN has incorporated the concept of “Justice delayed is justice denied.” The third characteristic is transparency, which allows information to be available and accessible to the public to ensure that decisions are taken and enforced within established rules and guidelines as outlined in Constitutions. Fourthly, there must be responsiveness where all are served by the various public institutions within a reasonable time frame in their particular countries. Fifth is good governance which requires consensus. Accountability, which is the sixth characteristic, is critical and must take place in all sectors of government where organizations are accountable to the people affected by their decisions or indecisions. The seventh characteristic is equity and inclusiveness, where all members of society feel a sense of security knowing they have a stake and are not excluded from society’s mainframe and the decision-making process. And eighth, is the effectiveness and efficiency, as processes and institutions are only valuable if they meet the needs and respect the wishes of the citizens they serve. These characteristics are important for the upward mobility of society. Therefore, governments must adopt these characteristics and ensure that they work together to achieve the goal of good governance, because enforcing accountability necessitates transparency and the rule of law which have not been respected by the “untouchables” in the PPP. These characteristics are fundamental to the ideal of a just and fair society and of good governance everywhere, except in Guyana. And if these characteristics are used as a yardstick for measuring where Guyanese are as a society, they will reveal that they are nowhere close to being a good, just, fair and ideal society, because the PPP has for the past 15 years ignored and abandoned the principles of good governance. Instead, its members have chosen greed, corruption and untruths, all of which are antithetical to the concepts of accountability, transparency and good governance in Guyana. Individual corrupt practices and the use of the state resources to enrich themselves, relatives and friends have been the primary objective of PPP cabal and not the interests of the people. Furthermore, every-one of the eight characteristics outlined by the United Nations and agreed by its members have been violated by the Jagdeo/Ramotar regime. The raison d’Être of the PPP cabal is to rule Guyana and use its resources as if they were bequeathed to them by their parents. But change is coming on May 11.
Asquith Rose,
Chandra Deolall,
Dr. Merle Spencer-Marks
