Democracy is the catch phrase these days in Guyana. The government says that it is keen to preserve democracy; the opposition says that it is pursuing the democratic norms.
Further, the opposition accuses the government of undemocratic practices and the government returns the favour, making the same observation.
North Korea is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea but the world says that the country is the most undemocratic in the world.
One can only suppose that democracy means different things to different people. On Sunday night, actor Will Smith believed that he had a democratic right to slap Chris Rock over a joke the comedian made about Smith’s wife.
India is dubbed the world’s largest democracy but a section of its population can hope for nothing better than to beg and to avoid contact with people who are said to be higher up the social ladder.
President Irfaan Ali says that Guyana is a democracy but like some of the people in India, sections of the population are not factored into the scheme of things. They have their jobs taken from them. Others are simply ignored.
Marlon Cole was head of the Government Analyst Food and Drug Department. His job was to protect Guyanese from some of the harmful imports by way of food. He seized those food items that were not up to the standard for human consumption.
Of course, the affected businessmen screamed to the top of their lungs when all they had to do was to provide evidence that their imports were not harmful. Perhaps, because most of the importers appear to be from an ethnic group that is different from Marlon Cole, the government opted to listen to them. Marlon Cole has been removed.
The very fate befell the Director of Mental Health, Dr Util Thomas. For no apparent reason, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health wrote to Dr. Thomas terminating her services. This was in January and the termination should have taken effect on March 23.
Lo and behold, on March 22, the Health Ministry sent another letter to Dr Thomas informing her that the termination had been rescinded.
The goodly doctor was now assigned to a health clinic to work under a lesser qualified Regional Health Officer, Dr Gavinash Persaud.
The government in its democratic way does not have to explain to the society the reasons for its decision. It didn’t have to explain the reason for terminating the contracts of so many in the public service.
In fact, one Minister said that she overheard these people saying that they could not work with the government. Perhaps that justified their sacking.
Certain contractors could not win contracts and to ensure that they continued not to, the government in its pursuit of democracy refused to activate the constitutional bodies; bodies as the Public Procurement Commission, which has the power to review contracts and note blatant discrimination.
Late last year a sea defence contract was being funded by the Inter-American Development Bank. The contractors had to be pre-qualified. Only one contractor met the qualifying standards. Of course, the Bank had the final say.
Because of the government’s perception of democracy, it refused to acknowledge the contractor that had pre-qualified. It opted to nullify the contract. That contractor was not an apparent member of the party or a supporter. Today, it is importing friends from Trinidad to compete against this contractor.
President Irfaan Ali has named an acting Police Commissioner. The most senior rank at the time is Deputy Commissioner Paul Williams. But in keeping with his perception of democracy, President Ali decided to appoint a junior rank, thus introducing the practice of supersession.
When questioned about his decision, he merely asked “Why not?” The constitution speaks to the need for consultation in the case of such appointments.
The absence of agreements has seen the non-confirmation of a Chancellor, of a Chief Justice, and of a Police Commissioner.
This time there is not yet a leader of the Opposition so Irfaan Ali may say, and did say, that he is acting on the doctrine of necessity. This doctrine prevailed after the no-confidence motion but the government since coming to office on August 2020 failed to accept this fact. Instead it kept speaking about an illegal government.
Justice Claudette Singh had made this same point when she vitiated the 1997 elections. She said that any laws passed by the government in place would be lawful because there must be a government. But Guyanese seem to have either short memory or very convenient memory.
Even the opposition parliamentarians failed to remind the government speakers in the House when Vice President Jagdeo and others kept talking about an illegal government. The fact is that the government is changing everything to suit itself and its future actions.
Even the behavior of its parliamentarians in the National Assembly is new to the House. Vulgarity is tolerated by the Speaker. Of course, the Speaker is not allowing it to become the norm because he is quick to cut down any opposition member who ventures down that path.
If someone were to come from a foreign country, that person would believe that democracy is whatever the government wants it to be.
There is the Christopher Ram Report on the Pradoville Two Housing Scheme. According to Ram the arrangement smacks of illegality. It highlights how the government treats friends and family members. That will form a full notebook.
But for now, democracy is about lawlessness at the level of government ministers. There is Nigel Dharamlall who, according to the post by a young lady, sent photographs of his exposed privates on the chat.
The conversation is something that would make any other person get sacked and banished from certain assemblies.
Nothing has been said by the government or any of the women’s organisations. Time will tell in the same way it should in the matter involving a lawyer and a black policewoman.
