Call for national healing for Guyana!

(GUYANA CHRONICLE)RECENTLY, the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church in the form of the Justice of Peace Commission called on the President and the Opposition Leader to meet in a bid to, in the words of the church, heal the nation. A quote from the statement of the JPC is worth quoting: “JPC calls on the President and Leader of the Opposition to engage each other and agree on a programme of healing that will relieve the nation of its pain and lead us to the promised land of trust in each other.  JPC believes this programme of healing must include constitutional and political party reform, and improved social cohesion and ethnic relations.”We want to associate ourselves with that call. It is our view that the longer the problem persists, the more difficult it becomes to find the necessary solutions. Any study of conflict resolution at national levels shows that enlightened leadership is critical to such a process. This is one of the reasons the JSC call hits the nail on the head. Guyana is at another crossroad, as the attempt by the current government to consolidate itself in office has been met by stern non-cooperation by the opposition party. All of this in the context of the not-so-veiled appeals to ethnic solidarity and hurt, which in turn facilitate an atmosphere of racial animosity
This is not the first call in recent times for the leaderships of the two major political entities to meet and find common ground for all Guyanese to live in peace and harmony; they have been quite a few from various quarters, including from the politicians themselves. In fact, such calls have become commonplace since the split of the nationalist movement in the 1950s. Guyana is not unique when it comes to internal conflicts, but we seem to be one of the few countries which seem to be unable to muster the courage to seriously address the problem.
As the JSC’s statement says, the programme of healing has to be tackled at two levels—the level of the formal institutions and at the level of the masses of people. There is no doubt that our political leaderships on all sides have not exercised the necessary seriousness that the process of national healing entails. They have shown an uncomfortable willingness to place it very low on the list of priorities. Yet it is the very lack of national healing and reconciliation which has undermined their capacity to effectively govern the society. It has also hindered the path to national development, which has had a negative impact on the country’s ability to dig itself out of the state of underdevelopment it inherited from colonialism.
Our political parties have tended to be very vocal about the need for national healing while in opposition, but upon assuming power, they have not followed through on their promises in this regard. To be fair to the current government, it has established a Ministry of Social Cohesion and has taken baby steps in the direction of constitutional reform.
As far as constitutional reform is concerned, after intense scrutiny, the sum of $80M was approved at the level of the Committee of Supply in the National Assembly recently to initiate the process of constitutional reform and to finance the Department of Governance. Government has indicated that early next year it will roll out its programme for constitutional reform, with the establishment of a Constitutional Consultative Commission and then the setting up of a secretariat to drive the process. Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, who has ministerial responsibility for governance, told this newspaper recently that his office has already mapped out areas where consultations will be held across the country. “The constitutional reform process is very active, contrary to what we have seen in the press,” Mr Nagamootoo said.
A Steering Committee on Constitutional Reform (SCCR) was established last August to draft a work programme and make recommendations for constitutional reform, a process for which repeated calls have been made. Invitations by President Granger to Mr. Jagdeo, to fast-track the process of healing have been flatly rejected by a party that does not separate its bid to recapture the reins of office from its national duty to ensure the cohesiveness of the larger society.
In the final analysis, the country cannot continue in this manner indefinitely—it is simply not sustainable. The Guyanese people deserve better for themselves and for future generations. We hope that this recent call by the Roman Catholic Church does not fall on deaf ears.