Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Mar 31, 2013 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
It is perhaps asking too much to expect that President Donald Ramotar will dissociate himself verbally and publicly from the actions of his predecessor, more so if he cannot undo what he inherited.
It is not usual for a sitting president who ran on the successful economic record of his predecessor, and whose term is still in its infancy, to come out flaying at his predecessor’s record. That would certainly be ill-advised, as he can alienate himself within his own government at a period when his feet may not yet be fully planted.
It took a very long time, more than four years, for Desmond Hoyte to unshackle himself from the socialist policies and from the old guard of Forbes Burnham. But even when he did, he never once publicly denounced Burnham or his policies.
From the early days of his presidency there were in fact many who were disappointed that he kept on a number of the old guard in senior positions before eventually shuttling most of them into political obscurity.
Hoyte was a loner; a man without a major constituency within his party, but he used the presidency over a period of time to strengthen his hold on his party, so much so that he was able to expel a major strongman from the PNC. Even after he lost three straight elections to the PPPC, he remained firmly in command of the PNC, which he tried to rebrand in his latter days without ever disowning its past or apologizing for its dubious record.
It was only because of dire hardship and international financial isolation that Hoyte was forced to change. But to his dying day, he never publicly distanced himself from that tragic experiment called cooperative socialism.
Leaders have to be judged more by what they do than what they say, and one can say with some surety that this year’s Budget, though lacking in many respects, is the most progressive post-Jagan Budget of the PPPC governments, and certainly some of the measures announced would never have seen the light of day under the previous president.
So is Donald Ramotar trying to bring about the change that many were expecting of him? It may be too early to judge.
It will take time for Ramotar to pull the plug on Jagdeo. That cannot happen overnight as many had expected, even with the significant powers of the presidency. One has to appreciate that the incumbent president was virtually gifted the presidential candidate by his predecessor and there will be some amount of gratitude and loyalty involved.
Nevertheless, there is deep concern that the longer it takes for Donald Ramotar to distance himself from his predecessor, the harder it will be to eventually do so. In fact the major question is not, as it was with Desmond Hoyte, when Donald Ramotar will be able to bring about a change, but whether in fact he is so inclined. With the greatest of respect, he does not come across as someone wanting to be different.
An opportunity recently presented itself for the president to distance himself from some of the actions of his predecessor. This opportunity was the disclosure about the broadcast licences that were issued by the former president just before he demitted office.
Donald Ramotar cannot revoke those licences. They are now considered property and the constitution does not allow for the revocation of property without the payment of compensation. They can be revoked if they were unlawfully and unconstitutionally granted, but it is the court which has to make such a finding.
The president took an interesting approach to the issue. He sought to distance the present government from the issue, without criticizing the former President. He explained that the licences were part of fulfilling a promise to liberalize the broadcast spectrum. He should have explained that he cannot revoke the licences, but can limit the number of frequencies that were granted and which effectively makes some stations into community broadcasters while the more favoured ones have national reach.
There is now a serious issue with broadcast licences and this issue is not going to go away. Nor can it be left simply as a problem that the new president inherited.
The President cannot resort to hiding behind the notion that the licences were not granted under his watch or try to explain them by reference to the need for liberalization or what happened under the PNC.
Everyone knows in this country about how the PNC operated while it was in power. That certainly cannot be the standard by which any democratic government should operate. Neither should it be used to explain or justify its actions.
The controversy over the licences is not going to be hushed up by statements about applications being considered. Admittedly, the granting of new licences is now out of the hands of the government and also the revocation of the ones granted before may also be out of its hands.
It is now more than likely that legal action will be taken to deem the licences granted just before the last elections as unlawful and to demand that all applications be fairly considered. There is a strong legal basis and legal precedent for overturning these licences, and more so now that litigants have resort to the Caribbean Court of Justice. There is also a strong legal basis for the court to mandate that certain applicants be granted licences if it is found that the previous process was arbitrary.
One has to therefore ask, if the court finds that the process of granting the licences was arbitrary, unlawful and unconstitutional, would President Donald Ramotar then distance himself from his predecessor’s actions in this instance? Or will he continue with the same position that he took at his recent press conference.
Will things change or will they plod along as they have been doing for the past sixteen months?
JAGDEO ADDING MORE DANGER TO GUYANA AND THE REGION
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