Guyana should be suspended from the Commonwealth and CARICOM with immediate effect, now that David Granger, the incumbent President seems bent on staying in power. More so, CARICOM must remove its Secretariat from Guyana as well.
In this day and age, politicians must not seek to stay in power for self-aggrandizement, but must listen to the will of the populace. Politics is not about power. it is about service. Shades and the ghosts of Burnhamism have again reared its ugly face in Guyana. Whilst the European, British, Canadian and the OAS observers have concluded that the results do not reflect the will of the Guyanese people, Granger maintains that he has won the vote, much to the dismay of the world community. And these foreign observers have left because they seem not able to stomach the ugly, dangerous and dictatorial stance taken by the PNC and its cohorts.
CARICOM was united in its stand against South Africa and Rhodesia, yet in its own backward the recent mission to Guyana by several Prime Ministers have not yielded anything positive. CARICOM has not taken any bold move to reinforce democracy in Guyana and there is not a single or statement about CARICOM leaders’ meeting this week.
I wonder how would the Primes Ministers of England, Canada, Australia, India and our own CARICOM would sit with a dictator to discuss world issues like climate control democracy, economic development and the like.
Remember, Fiji with similar behavior and she was disconnected with the Commonwealth of Nations, and she was only allowed re-entry when she met the requirements of democracy, free and fair elections.
I wonder what is the University of the West Indies saying about Guyana and its despotic rule.
What is happening in Guyana is as a result of British colonialism and imperialism. You would recall that both Britain and USA, through a system of proportional representation hijacked democracy and installed Forbes Burnham as President, literally for life. But it was the USA through the Carter Center for Free and Fair Elections that brought back Dr Cheddi Jagan and his PPP to clean up the mess that Burnham had imposed on the Guyanese populace.
World affairs are not about East and West system of governance, but on topical issues that confront all mankind, so the issue of political philosophy has been thrown in the waste paper basket of history. The Guyanese situation must be seen as a test case as to whether it would allow Granger to sit on the throne of power, whilst he continues to emasculate the true concept of democracy and freedom and fair elections. The world society remains concerned about Guyana. There is a need for united, concerted and deliberate action to bring back Guyana to democracy and freedom and free and fair elecions. World leaders must do it now or face the perils of the future