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AN OATH IS A SERIOUS PLEDGE

Sep 16, 2015 Editorial

President David Granger and his entire cabinet of twenty-six senior and junior Ministers took their oath to perform their duties according to the Constitution and without ill-will, favouritism or malice.
An oath is a solemn formal declaration, an undertaking as to future action or a promise to fulfill a pledge. Some would call on the Almighty or a sacred object to bear witness. Not all oaths are worded in the same way but they are administered in a similar manner in different countries. They have the same meaning or inference.
Taking an oath is not only for elected officials but it is also for public officials who are entrusted with authority to conduct the affairs of the state impartially.
The oath taken by the APNU+AFC ministers is very similar to those of other countries and is as follows: “I …. swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and will uphold the Constitution and the law, that I will conscientiously, impartially and to the best of my ability discharge my duties as a Minister and do right to all manner of people without fear or favor, affection or ill-will.”
It is a powerful declaration which the people expect the Ministers to uphold, but if they do not, a different group will likely take the oath in future.
But the question is: how on earth, given the Constitution as it is, could the people of Guyana expect their Ministers, who are members of a political party to treat everyone the same and “without fear, favour, affection or ill will” when partisan politics is alive and well?
The truth is that no one, not even the President, can uphold such an oath, if he does, his party will surely be in disarray. And the opposition PPP which the Constitution allows to oppose the government will be anxious to see the ruling party collapse.
The reality is no political party, be it the APNU+AFC or the PPP can really treat Opposition supporters equally as its own party supporters.  Should this happen, supporters of the governing party will become angry and disloyal to it. They believe that this is their time to reap some of the benefits.
But treating supporters of the opposition as equal could win over the opposition support.
Anyhow, the oath of opposition Members of Parliament (MP) is quite different from that of the Ministers of government.  In part, the opposition oath reads “to the best of my ability discharge my duties impartially as a Member of Parliament.
The part that says “and do right to all manner of people without fear or favour, affection or ill-will” is left out. The reason is that members of the opposition are not part of the executive and therefore are not directly responsible for policy until such policy reaches Parliament.
Thus, the divine, legal or moral obligation to “do right to all manner of people without fear or favor, affection or ill-will” is not placed upon the opposition MPs’ shoulders.
The word “impartially” in the oath is disquieting because all political parties are involved in political patronage. And while they strive on patronage; excessive political patronage breeds corruption.
Furthermore, the nature of partisan politics in Guyana is that without political patronage, political parties, especially the ruling party will not be able to win elections.
That said, Guyana needs some semblance of balance to prevent political parties from using patronage to their advantage and to the disadvantage of the opposition. However, it depends on the discretion of the coalition government.
Given the political landscape in Guyana, fulfilling one’s pledge will require courage and allegiance to the oath. It is a very tough challenge for members of the Cabinet to do so. An oath is a liability which may or may not serve the country and the people well, but taking it is a very serious pledge.

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