Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 12, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
Kaieteur News – There isn’t another amazingly unthinking society like Guyana in the world. A society has to be irrational when all the independent media, the television interview programmes, the Meta (Facebook) programmes and the Zoom discussions focus only on governmental behaviour.
You pick up any newspaper or look at any television interview in the US and important non-government organisation, civil society actors, business companies are the subject of critical analysis. Political observers focus on Amazon and Facebook as they do on the American government.
Since Zoom and Facebook came in use in Guyana, I have not seen one, I repeat, not one debate or discussion on anything that is outside the realm of government. Looking back on 2021 in my ongoing series, I will touch on the cheap purchase of land by one of the richest families here that thankfully was cancelled. There has been absolutely no exchange of opinion on this issue.
Since television, Zoom and Facebook came into use in this country, there has been the sudden birth of a plethora of untrained political theorists and sociologists interviewing countless guests and the basic approach to interviewing with a concomitant lack familiarity with political, sociological and journalistic tools is shockingly embarrassing. The examples I could offer would be enormous.
When you have such an approach, vital issues that exist independent of governmental behaviour go missing. In any society things happen outside of the actions of government that need examining and interpreting. I have not seen any polemic or debate at all, on the nature of civil society in Guyana.
Who or what is civil society in Guyana? Do they have credibility? Are they substantial entities with vast outreach in Guyana? Or do they consist of individuals just looking for their 15 minutes of fame?
An entity suddenly sprang up referring to itself as a civil society body. It is called the Election Reform Group (ERG). No one knows how many persons are in this organisation. I became suspicious of the motive of this group because it was born shortly after the five-month election rigging concluded and adamantly refused to acknowledge that the March poll was being manipulated by the rogue elements in GECOM to give APNU+AFC a victory.
Now here is incontrovertible evidence that Guyanese society has to be careful about civil society. The impending amendments to the Representation of the People’s Act include separating Region 4, the largest and most cumbersome election district into 4 electoral sub-divisions – south and north Georgetown and East Bank and East Coast.
This change is completely unrelated to anything that has to do with our election system. It has no bearing on how elections are administered. It is simply a reduction of overweight bureaucracy. It can be interpreted as an act of commonsense. The ERG has referred to this simple change as provocative and unjustified.
There is no evidence to show that Christopher Ram is a supporter of the PPP government. In fact, Mr. Ram’s criticism of different policies of government, including election reform is easily obtainable. In a recent interview, when asked about the creation of the 4 sub-districts, Mr. Ram said it is just an administrative matter.
Timothy Jonas is de factor head of an opposition party, ANUG. Mr. Jonas voices criticism of many actions of the PPP government. When the same question was put to Mr. Jonas his answer was enlightening and the ERG needs to get immediately his response. He said that particular change has been misunderstood. It is simply a decentralisation process that prevents “a central Mingo.” Both Ram and Jonas are lawyers that often speak on the election laws. No one in the ERG is an attorney.
Guyanese should ask themselves why Ram and Jonas would take a different position from the ERG. The answer is simple. They will not embarrass themselves by appearing as lawyers who cannot understand simple legal amendments. They obviously read that particular amendment and didn’t see the provocative dimension that the ERG sees.
There has been a relentless crusade of mine that civil society as an independent, non-partisan community is yet to emerge in Guyana. The Stabroek News described the Private Sector Commission as pro-government. The PNC has labelled the Bar Association as pro-government. But logic goes out the window when you ignore the anti-government label that many civil society groups wear on their sleeve.
Individuals with a political agenda are calling themselves civil society. Civil society in Guyana is as politically inclined as any party supporter. Why should central government trust them? Can they be trusted to be independent? My answer is no. I believe they should be non-partisan. But show me one that is.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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