From the Diaspora...IS POWER SHARING A SOLUTION TO RACIAL UNITY?

From the Diaspora…IS POWER SHARING A SOLUTION TO RACIAL UNITY?

Jun 05, 2011 News

By Ralph Seeram

With general elections coming up in a few months there is much talk of “shared governance” coming from certain quarters. Foremost leading this charge is David Hinds. A few writers have jumped into the fray, offering their take on the subject, leaving me confused as to what is the real purpose of “shared governance”, which I believe is a fancy word for coalition government.
Nobody has really explained in detail how this idea will work, I mean thinking as the ordinary man in the street Guyanese, the “rum shop drinker” has any of these proponents tried to break it down to these folks?
After all, they are the ones whose lives it will affect; they are the ones who have to do the voting. Really how would this work? Mr. Hinds keeps spouting how Afro Guyanese are being marginalized, but very short on specifics? I want to look at this from the man in the street perspective to get some answers.
Mr. Hinds may have a point about not needing trust for “shared governance”. Coalition governments were formed not because they trust each other, but because of political necessity. I submit that these unions were made not with voters in mind; they do this in the interest of their parties and political careers.
Politicians hope that by sharing in government, come next elections, the voters will see things their way. The recent elections in Canada are an example. If the PPP keeps winning the majority votes, why would they want to share power, position and privilege is not something politicians give up, if you want it you have to earn it?
Before getting further, I would have liked Mr. Hinds to explain to the younger Guyanese why the system was moved from First Past the Post to Proportional Representation. As I understood it then, it was to prevent any particular race from being dominant in Government. It was designed to force shared governance.
We all know how that turned out under the PNC. It was really designed to keep the PPP from power. The PPP captured 54 per cent of the votes. Some would call it representative of all voters. My questions are if 54 per cent cannot be considered representative what would be considered representative?
How far back do we have to move the goal post? If the PPP get 60 per cent at the next election would that meet the criteria? The point is the PPP had to get Afro Guyanese votes to win elections, and some may argue that the PNC needs to emulate what the PPP has done. But here again it comes to TRUST.
Do the voters trust the PNC? If they don’t want the PNC to form a government why would the winner want to include that party?
Getting back to the sharing plan. Mr. Hinds seems to suggest that Afro Guyanese should share in Government in proportion to their votes. This is where it gets tricky. Does he mean according to percentage of population of Afro Guyanese or according to their votes? If it is votes then we are opening a new “can of worms”.
Do we have to mark the ballots Afro Guyanese, Indo Guyanese, Amerindian Guyanese? And who do we give the “dougla” votes to? What confuses me here is how do we decide who gets the Afro Guyanese votes or the Indo Guyanese votes.
What if the Afro Guyanese votes for the PPP can the PPP lay claim to those votes? Can the PNC do likewise with the votes of the Indo Guyanese? How do we make the determination of the races? By name? (You know that will be misleading).
Besides spouting the arguments I don’t believe deep thought was given to this idea. If we ever get past that, who gets to be President, Prime Minister, and how would the Ministries divide up?
We also have the argument of the “marginalisation of Afro Guyanese”. How is this being done? Is it a deliberate policy of the PPP Government? Is it a lacking of opportunity for advancement in employment or entrepreneurship?
I don’t think the argument can be made for employment in the Public Service. So is it a failure to gain promotion based on qualification and ability rather than race? Is it failure to assist Afro Guyanese in business opportunities?
I am not one to deny that the PPP government favours its friends when it comes to contracts. It may not be right but it is a fact of life.
I have not seen or heard one argument that “shared governance” will solve our racial problem, and frankly it will not.
We need to get back to “the drawing board” for a more permanent solution.
Ralph Seeram can be reached at Email: [email protected]

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From the Diaspora…IS POWER SHARING A SOLUTION TO RACIAL UNITY?

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