A paralysis is now limiting Guyana’s forward movement, and this should not have occurred in the first place. Our homeland is now afflicted with immobility, frozen in time within the liminal, a State suspended inside a state of limbo since December 21, 2018; this should not have happened.
Despite the foundational structure of the nation’s Constitution put in place to prevent such an occurrence, all the same a fracture in the smooth flow of governing occurred on the night of December 21. It was on this night, when to its astonishment, the APNU+AFC government lost its place in office following a no-confidence vote.
It is coming on ten months later since the no-confidence vote, and this administration is yet to vacate the government’s offices and call elections, despite the unequivocal directions written into Guyana’s Constitution; and then months later there came a further display of defiance following the objective findings by the wise heads that prevail at the Caribbean Court of Justice.
Remarkably, despite the swirling irony of its parliamentary avowal to uphold principled, democratic rule, the APNU+AFC administration continues to defy the overarching directives etched by each Guyanese hand into the Constitution, where it is mandated to become a caretaker government following a no-confidence loss, and to call elections within three months. Tellingly, Guyana is yet to go to the polls.
It is quite obvious that the sole objective of the APNU+AFC coalition in its refusal to adhere to the Constitution is to continue clinging to power; it is doing so in an attempt to maximise all opportunities at bettering its chances to remain in the corridors of power for another five years. As we all know, general elections were constitutionally due in 2020 before the APNU+AFC lost to the no-confidence vote.
That such defiance is being used to better fortify its position at the forthcoming polls is beyond remarkable. Not only is this an affront to principled adherence of what is written in the Constitution, and the rule of law, this administration’s avoidance of accountability is also causing harm to Guyana’s image abroad. As well, the costs continue to build up that are now restraining the nation’s forward progress and development.
In a word, the APNU+AFC’s manoeuvring around the Constitution, and its disregard for the findings of the CCJ, have put Guyana in a state of paralysis.
The immobility is clearly evident in Guyana’s delayed upcoming budget, which the government is unable to present for 2020. Major capital projects have also come to a standstill.
Much-needed infrastructure, such as the new crossing for the Demerara River, is now in suspension. With its processes and intricate financing impacted with concerns over corruption and a lack of transparency, there is no advancing forward with this critical piece of infrastructure since the country is now immobilised.
Also halted are other major infrastructural works as the bypass road between the East Bank of Demerara and the East Coast of Demerara, the stoppage rippling further to impact negatively on Guyana’s international image, since it is a bilateral project with the government of India.
Back at home, the lives of thousands of sugar workers and their families remain affected as a government now in liminality is unable to energise the mothballed estates. Also, it is important to not forget Guyana’s forthcoming, promising entry into international oil production, which at its core requires the stability of a functioning and legitimate government.
Instead of moving Guyana’s infrastructure forward, its emergent oil industry, and meeting the needs of nationals, vital supporting taxpayers’ dollars are being expended by an administration fighting every step of the way to stymie elections.
All of Guyana matters all of the time; this is an assertion that makes it incumbent on us as Guyanese abroad to call on the APNU+AFC to set aside its debilitating partisanship, and to prioritise the needs of the nation.