OPPOSITIONAL POLITICKING SUCKS!
PERSPECTIVES
BY PREM MISIR
Guyana Chronicle
February 5, 2007
Nobody would argue that democracy ails without oppositional politicking; but a great and ever present danger to a fragile democracy is sham politicking.
Each time this Government proposes and implements a program, regardless of whether the program is good or bad, a raging but weak and fraudulent politicking erupts from the Parliamentary Opposition and sections of the private media.
On numerous occasions, this concoction having little or no basis in fact fortunately quickly peters out. But this has been the hallmark of Guyana’s oppositional politics since 1992; a concoction rooted in incivility, deceit, and an excessive hunger for power at any cost; a kind of negative behavior and energy that work toward retarding national development. Clearly, this fraudulent politicking undermines the limited and declining strength of Guyana’s oppositional elements.
Let us examine three recent instances of sham politicking, among numerous others:
(1) Oppositional elements presented the introduction of VAT to Guyana as poor people’s burden; and that the economy is not sufficiently developed to bear the burden of a VAT system. What is the truth?
Several poor countries as Madagascar and Tanzania, both with GDP per capita of US$800, have demonstrated the saliency of VAT in their economies. 136 countries now have adopted VAT, accounting for some 25% of the world’s tax revenues.
And Peters and Bristol in a forthcoming paper in UWI’s Social and Economic Studies support VAT implementation for CARICOM countries. VAT is a highly efficient tax system. And like Guyana, most “VAT’ countries use VAT to widen the tax base and provide greater transparency in the tax system.
(2) Oppositional elements presented the Casino Gambling (Amendment) Bill 2006 (now an Act) as immoral, ungodly, and bringing damnation to Guyana. What is the truth?
The Act is an attempt to boost the fragile tourism; casino gambling would not be available to the local Guyanese public, an attempt to meet the religious community half-way; casino gambling licenses would only be issued to hotels with at least 150 rooms, providing a 4-star service, and only three casino facilities per Region would be allowed. The Act also provides for a Gaming Authority to issue licenses, monitoring, and addressing the excesses of gambling, among other things.
(3) Oppositional elements currently present Government’s withdrawal of advertisements from Stabroek News as an attack on press freedom. What is the truth? Government’s policy on the placement of commercials is as follows: place newspaper advertisements in the State Media plus one private media house.
And so in order to comply with the policy of placing advertisements in only one private newspaper, the Government Information Agency made an economic decision to focus its commercials mainly toward the privately-owned Kaieteur News, carrying a larger circulation and greater extensive reach than the Stabroek News; and indeed, Kaieteur News is certainly not a pro-Government newspaper.
But if, as the oppositional elements contend, the withdrawal of advertisements from Stabroek News is a consequence of its criticisms against the Government, and therefore, limiting press freedom, why then would the Government continue to focus its commercials toward Kaieteur News, a vociferous critic of the Government. There really is no press freedom issue here; and in the meantime the Government continues to place commercials in the private sector.
These instances of sham oppositional politicking hurt national development. But how do we know when a country is developing, amid this sham politicking? India’s President Kalam and Rajan provided the answer through these indicators: the wealth of the nation, the prosperity of its people, and its standing internationally.
Indicators telling the story of a country’s wealth are, among others: Gross National Product (GNP), Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Balance of Payments, foreign exchange reserves, economic growth rate, per capita income, among others.
But economic indicators though compelling do not tell the whole story about a nation’s wealth; they may conceal sizeable human misery among ordinary people. And sham politicking is a useful culprit in increasing human misery.
Kalam and Rajan argue that these economic indicators tell little about ‘the long-term sustainability of the quality of life achieved by people’. And Gandhi’s simple criterion to enhance the quality of life is ‘that only when we have wiped the tears from the faces of all, have we truly arrived as a nation’. And sham oppositional politicking destroys the necessary wherewithal to wipe off the tears.
Sham oppositional politicking works toward keeping Guyana back. But for this Government there is no going back, the way is forward to better things.
Government is intent on carrying its developmental messages in every home across the country. Government has a vision of a Guyana without poverty, a Guyana well equipped in trade and commerce, a Guyana committed to the private sector, a Guyana compelling in science and technology, a Guyana that recognizes the technology-economic growth connection, a Guyana with innovative industry, and with health and education for all.
All Guyanese have to be vigilant against sham oppositional politicking; sham oppositional politicking is out of control, and it sucks! And perhaps the difference between sham politicking and above-board politicking has to do with the difference between politicians who ‘live off’ politics and politicians who ‘live for’ politics.