Book Description

Guyanese politics has taken many an unfortunate turn over the last sixty years. The attempt by the People's Progressive Party (PPP) to establish political dominance is the most recent and perhaps the most unfortunate given the expectations that brought that party to office, and will hopefully be the last if the nation succeeds in devising new methods of managing its affairs. I began contributing weekly articles to the Stabroek News in 2011, and the vast majority of them have been directed towards exploring where Guyana is politically and what kinds of mechanisms will best create the kind of ethnic unity that will take us forward. I hope that it will provide the reader with an appreciation of an important dimension of the nature of the political problem in Guyana. I have decided to present this compilation because there is now a widespread acceptance that radical change is necessary. Indeed, the major opposition political parties, which at the time of writing this had a slim majority in Parliament before it was prorogued, have committed themselves to making necessary constitutional changes, and although unsystematic thus far, a national discourse has began. Political/ethnic dominance has not historically been an aim of the PPP, and why and how the party took this course, what it means, its consequences for life in Guyana and possible solutions to the problem are the major concerns of this compilation. I hope it will contribute to the current debate and thus make a small contribution to Guyana finally taking a course that will allow it to fulfill its vast potential.