A constituency in search of a party

It was amusing to hear President Ali this week declaring how he and other CARICOM leaders had consulted extensively with Haitian civil society in their plan to stem what is nothing short of a revolution.

Closer to home there are still some citizens left who care deeply about such notions as equality, justice and accountability even if it would seem that they are being swept away by the torrent of oil money rushing down on us like some grossly swollen river. Civil society here has increasingly been marginalised.

By giving our politicians financial independence this river is steadily sweeping away the compact which well-structured and functioning societies have which says the elected leaders will hold themselves accountable to the citizens on how and on what they spend the taxes we give them. Each day we hear of another public project - be it a highway, a deep water harbour, a stadium - none of which involves an iota of consultation with us the people. For example we learnt last week that VP Jagdeo is already planning another US$2B gas fired power plant even though the one he is trying to build is now at least one year behind schedule.

It is hard not to feel helpless at how little they now listen, especially since we can expect that come the elections in 2025, the ruling party will use our same taxes, revenues, government logistics and the public media infrastructure (including those private media houses it has coopted) to ensure it wins another five years majority rule.

All is not lost. For decades there has been a constituency in this country looking for a party that will, if not have the mass support to govern, will appeal to a certain common morality and be a catalyst for democratic change.

While not wanting to dwell in the past, it is worth recalling the rise of the WPA, then the creation of GUARD, whose main beneficiary was the PPP/C - and most recently the Alliance for Change, a remarkable coming together of mostly disaffected members of the two main parties that briefly held the balance of power in our Parliament. All of these movements/parties arose to fill a need among certain segments of the population who do not look to their own material self interests or ethnicity. Sadly the AFC, a once golden boy, is now a political has-been, tarnished by its silence in the wake of the no confidence vote and the subsequent attempted rigging. Not even a self-cleansing of its current leadership as a mea culpa would suffice. Stranded in a political wasteland, they may choose to “tie bundle” with the PNCR once more or they could provide support for one of the emerging parties whose hands are clean.

History often rhymes and it would appear that we are at the point of the democratic cycle where unbridled power urgently needs to be put in check. And this is not necessarily about which of the two parties wins: what has been clear since independence is their common proclivity for autocracy while doing a very poor job of running the country. This is about political accountability.

And it would appear that the only way to get the PPP/C to respect such a concept is not through toothless committees, legal appeals or dare we say letters to the editor? These are often waylaid, appealed ad infinitum or simply ignored.

But what has been remarkable is not the dominance of the two-party system - most democracies offer voters only binary choices for some reason but the persistence of Guyana’s smaller parties in the face of neanderthal ethnic politics.

The ever alert Vice President Jagdeo understands this. He has done a deft job of branding the APNU as racially motivated but one could sense his anxiety when he talked at Babu John on Sunday of other challengers.

“You got all kinds… but they better be cautious. They got to come right. It’s a free country politically, but they may have interpreted our being quiet as a sign of weakness. It’s not so. When the

right time comes, we will deal with them.”

The question is who might vote for any small party? It is hard to see it coming from the newly emerging petit bourgeoisie which is only concerned with material gain and commuting times. Many of the activists of yesteryear have long ago turned grey, or migrated often embittered. Others have chosen to muzzle their mouths to the point of shameless contradiction.

But it is not difficult to imagine that a wellargued campaign based on democratic principles might deliver enough votes for a seat or two in Parliament. Perhaps the golden seat of accountability.

Of course this would likely complicate and delay any government and its plans. But in the long term it may be the only way to bring real stability, to mitigate corruption and force leaders to engage and compromise. In other words, a genuine One Guyana.