The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) plans to spend US$10 million on projects to improve governance and deepen the democratic process in Guyana over the next four and one half years. But its director Mike Sarhan, a twenty-seven year veteran of the agency, says that the programme would have failed if it did not achieve greater participation and a better balance of power among the legislature, judiciary and the executive.
Governance
In an interview with Current Affairs, Sarhan said that the programme builds on the work that was done during the past programme cycle at the local level. He says that a primary target is to see local elections being held in 2006 as he believes that there is enough time to conduct a proper voter education programme.
Sarhan says that good governance implies a system better able to respond to the needs of its citizens, whether in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS or in everyday matters such as the availability of affordable utilities. He says that this responsiveness, in turn, motivates citizens to become more involved in the affairs of government.
"A more transparent and responsive government also has a favourable impact on the economic sector, because entrepreneurs are more willing to take risks and invest in an environment in which they trust the government and perceive it as responsive to business needs."
Sarhan believes that the move to have constituency based elections at the local government level will ensure that every one wins something and the chances of post-elections violence if the local and national elections are held at the same time could be reduced dramatically.
Electoral Systems
The USAID has made available through the National Democratic Institute the services of Keri Vollan to assist the joint task force on local government reform in agreeing on an electoral system to be used at the local elections for the municipal and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs).
Vollan has provided the joint task force with three models which provide for constituency based elections with varying degrees of proportional representation to ensure results reflect the support of the parties.
The members of the task force with their parties are to determine their position on the three models and to meet within two weeks of their meeting with Vollan. How-ever, Current Affairs understands that there has been no meeting and based on previous experience, there could be some difficulty in convening a meeting given that the constructive engagement process has ended. Local Government minister, Clinton Collymore has responsibility for convening the meeting once he gets the agreement of his co-chair, PNCR parliamentarian, Vincent Alexander.
Current Affairs understands that Alexander has not been consulted as yet about convening a meeting.
According to Sarhan, the Democracy and Governance programme will be aimed at expanding efforts to encourage greater participation, transparency, and ethnic harmony in the political process.
Participation
He said that the new strategy would emphasise interventions at the local level which USAID's recent sectoral analysis indicates is likely to offer a greater impact in achieving the desired objectives.
Sarhan says that USAID plans to work with civil society organisations, NDCs, the media and other community organisations capable of influencing decision-making.
He believes that "effective democracy requires enhancing real citizen participation and inclusion in the democratic process, explaining that democratic governance is partly predicated on the ability of formal institutions and informal practice to support the rights of citizens to participate in public policy-making.
"Inclusion and participation are mutually reinforcing: where there are mechanisms to hear the opinions and aspirations of citizens, and where incentives exist for the correct exercise of citizenship, the state and citizens build a productive governance relationship.
At present, USAID believes that these mechanisms are lacking for interested citizens to make meaningful contributions to the public good and it will be working with its partners to achieve a number of specific outcomes by the end of the programme in 2008.
These, he said, include having the political parties adopt and practice a campaign code of ethical behaviour, the peaceful acceptance of the results of the local and national elections; and the empowerment of local government bodies to provide some services and collect revenue.
Other outcomes the programme is intended to achieve include increased opportunities for civil society (commissions, advisory groups, associations) to regularly provide contributions to policy-making at the local and national levels of government; increase in the membership, revenue, and lobbying ability of the community organisations, and greater understanding by citizens of local and national issues.
The adoption of alternative dispute resolutions to help improve the administration of justice, particularly the time it takes for cases to be heard, more informed, balanced and objective reporting, investigations and editorials by the media, the timely availability to the public of public records, the timely presentation of government budgets and contracts to the National Assembly and to local organisations and the creation of new political space that transcends the bi-polar nature of current politics are other broad objectives. Expanding on the objectives of the media, Sarhan said that the idea is to have the media as a watchdog on the promises of the government and having a code of ethics which is enforceable and reflects the wishes of the operatives in the media.
He explained too that the system adopted for the annual fiscal allocations to the local government bodies should provide the resources necessary to allow programmes identified at the local level to be implemented and for greater transparency in the award of contracts.
HIV/AIDS
Another programme being carried out by USAID which it says will contribute to the achievement of the goal of political stability is the HIV/AIDS programme on which it plans to spend some US$15 million during the next four and one half years. Guyana would have benefited further from another US programme but lost out, it is widely believed, because of its failure to act decisively in investigating the allegations of state-sponsored terrorism and the part Home Affairs Minister Ronald Gajraj is alleged to have played. It could be a beneficiary next year when the list of countries to benefit from the programme is reviewed.
USAID says that the programme is aimed not only at preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS and mitigating its impact, but to make a contribution to the achievement of economic growth and political stability.
"HIV/AIDS has a negative impact on the economy both because of the increased costs required for treatment and care, and because a generalized epidemic, such as that emerging in Guyana, typically has its most profound effects on the economically productive age groups. HIV/AIDS also severely undermines social and political stability: fear, stigma, and discrimination related to HIV/AIDS exacerbate existing social tensions, and a generation of children must face the catastrophic social, economic, and psychological
consequences of seeing their parents, community members, and leaders succumb to a preventable disease."
The objective of the programme is to treat 3500 HIV-infected persons, prevent 15,000 new infections and provide care and support to 13,200 persons, with a particular focus on orphans and vulnerable children. A key objective too of this programme is to reduce by 50 per cent the incidence of mother to child transmission of the disease by 2008.
Economic Growth
The other programme Sarhan says which would benefit from political stability is the one to promote economic growth. The objective of that programme will be to tap Guyana's considerable potential as an exporter of value-added products by working both internationally and domestically to create favourable conditions for expanding the export market. "A healthy export market will create jobs, increase incomes, and spur further investment. Broad-based economic growth will thus contribute to the political stability and social well-being that are the cornerstones of a healthy, prosperous nation," Sarhan believes.
Activities envisaged under the programme will fall into two broad groups- those related to trade capacity building and second, those aimed at improving the performance and competitiveness of exporting firms.
Under Trade Capacity Building, assistance will include strengthening Guyana's key trade institutions including the Ministries of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation (MOFTIC), Agriculture (MOA), Fisheries, Crops and Livestock (MFCL) and the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS).
It is hoped that assistance to these institutions will enable the country to participate more effectively in international trade negotiations and reap any benefits that may accrue from such negotiations. In the second instance, the aim will be to improve the competitiveness of target firms in the non-traditional sector; by enhancing their ability to utilize modern methods of management in their day-to-day operations, and identifying and exploiting niche markets.
The completion of an Investment Guide will be undertaken in the early stages of programme implementation- an essential appendage of the recently enacted Investment Act.
The programme should result in the promulgation of key trade and investment policies, standards, and practices that are consistent with negotiated obligations and international best practices and increase the competitiveness of firms engaged in the export of value-added products and services to high-value niche markets.