Just like PPP, APNU +AFC paid the price for its arrogance – Former Speaker Ralph Ramkarran

Dec 24, 2018 News

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Persaud’s disappointment with his party is shared by many former supporters as their widespread abandonment of the AFC at the local government elections demonstrated – Ramkarran

Former Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran said that he always saw the safe passage of a no-confidence motion against the APNU+AFC Government as a distinct possibility.
In a weekly column published on his blog—Conversation Tree—Ramkarran, noted “Election results mean something. In 2011, the electorate told the PPP/C that it wants that party to join in a coalition to manage the affairs of the nation. The PPP/C ignored the message. The electorate removed it from office in 2015. Then it proceeded to give the APNU+AFC coalition a mere one seat majority. This conveyed another message – that the APNU + AFC coalition government should proceed cautiously and engage with the Opposition.”

Ramkarran noted that the APNU+AFC coalition likewise ignored the message, overreached and governed as if it had a sweeping mandate. “Now, like the PPP, it has paid the price. Arrogance, meaning the ignoring of the message of the electorate, rather than humility, that is, frequent consultation with, and listening to, the concerns of supporters and backbenchers, such as Mr. Charrandas Persaud, appears to be an ingrained habit of the main political parties.”
Ramkarran recalled that an interview was given by Persaud after the vote in the National Assembly. He said that whether or not Persaud had given prior indication to the Opposition that he would support a no confidence motion, “his answers were unrehearsed and rational.”
Ramkarran noted Persaud’s mention of two occasions on which he disagreed with his party’s leadership. “But he painfully expressed the loss of any influence over what he alleged was the unilateral direction that the leadership of the AFC was taking the party, and the plight of sugar workers, who the AFC had vowed to protect, but 7,000 of whom ended up losing their jobs.”
Ramkarran said that Persaud’s disappointment with his party is shared by many former supporters as their widespread abandonment of the AFC at the local government elections demonstrated. He said that the AFC had a golden opportunity to keep its promise to the Guyanese people of holding APNU to the high standards that it said it was committed to. “But it failed to do so, to the disappointment of many, including Mr. Persaud.”
Ramkarran noted that because of Persaud’s vote, Guyana has now had two governments of the main parties whose terms lasted for only three years. He said that this reality suggests that a degree of instability has crept into the political landscape.
“It cannot be predicted whether this will continue. Even if it does, it is preferable to the 20+ year entrenchment in office that Guyana has been a victim of in the past. It is hoped that the electorate can be persuaded to consider a model whereby the main parties are kept below an absolute majority and are forced to compete for the support of smaller parties to stay in office. One party majoritarianism will not resolve the problems arising from Guyana’s ethno-politics. The electorate did not succeed in 2011 and 2015. It can still succeed if it is still motivated to hold the major parties in check,” said Ramkarran.
He noted that Guyana will be having elections in three months, with the two main parties being led by different persons—persons who are not the current heads of the parties.
Ramkarran pointed out that the PPP is in the process of selecting its presidential candidate. And, that President Granger’s chemotherapy treatment is likely to continue into and beyond the election period and the likelihood is that his recovery will not be complete by that time and he might not be able to endure the rigours of an election campaign.
Also, Ramkarran said that smaller parties, already established and soon to be established, will be gearing up within the limited time available to contest the elections and test the potential of Guyana to develop beyond the rigid ethno-political system that has dominated the country’s politics since Independence.
According to the veteran politician, it will be a matter of the “greatest interest” to observe whether the APNU+AFC (if the coalition holds) will repeat the promise of reforming the Constitution to provide for a government that includes more than a single political force.
Ramkarran said that if this promise is repeated, it will be interesting to see what guarantees are given this time around that those promises will be kept.
Further, Ramkarran said that while the PPP did not make any such promises in the 2015 election campaign, it said that it would not oppose constitutional reform. He said, “The PPP may well consider that the time has come for consideration to be given to bringing an end to one party majority rule. Every thinking Guyanese, except those active in our main political parties, is aware that the complex issues relating to the management of Guyana’s oil resources needs all hands on deck, including both political parties. The size and complexity of the tasks yet to be accomplished suggest that no single political party can satisfy the nation that their interests are being protected.
“The electorate has spoken twice, in 2011 and 2015. It has declared it preference for Guyana to start a new journey, one without the monolithic domination of one or the other major political party. Despite the suddenness with which the fall of the APNU+AFC Government took place and the limited time for new elections, it is hoped that these concerns of the electorate will be addressed in the election campaign.”

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