A response to Roger Ally & Freddie Kissoon
Dear Editor,
I made an argument for a “Constitutional Arrangement” with the United States, similar to the post of Governor-General in the Constitution we inherited from Britain at Independence in 1966 (See my letter SN April 21st).
To recap the basics: There is a vacuum in our system of government, no higher authority to help resolve issues for which the Apex Court offers little or no help. Case in point – the breakdown following the 2020 elections. It had been resolved only when the powers of the U.S. Govt (via the Secretary of State) were brought to bear on the situation. The Guyanese people were lucky that time, thanks to Mr Jagdeo’s foresight in retaining a Washington-based PR firm to lobby the U.S. Govt for help.
Let us make a passing note here: VP Jagdeo has again retained another PR firm to perform the same basic services in 2025 – this time using funds from State Treasury, unlike the last time when he was the Opposition Leader.
I will argue that the services Secretary Pompeo performed are much the same as the Gov-Gen’s oversight role in the old post-Independence Constitution. The Gov-Gen embodied the powers of the British monarch or shall we say the British Government. When Burnham abolished that post and turned Guyana into a Republic making himself the head-of-State, there remained no checks and balances on the Executive President of Guyana. It became all too easy for him to rig all the elections for two decades.
Let us also note that during the 5-months long election impasse in 2020, the incumbent party, PNC, had also dispatched a delegation to Washington to plead for help. In my analysis, that wasn’t subservience to U.S. Govt, it was conceding the need for a higher power to “watch over the Constitution” and Guyana’s system of governance.
I am calling for a debate of my idea to give these powers to the U.S. Govt, hopefully both major parties – PPP and PNC – together with all stakeholders will form a consensus and have a formal proposal debated and voted on in the Guyana parliament. I am not forcing anything onto the Guyanese nation; I have no such powers or influence.
Let me acknowledge two responses – one from Roger Ally (posted in the online SN blogs and another from Freddie Kissoon in the State-owned newspaper (GC April 29th).
Roger Ally is an attorney based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He posted, “Why USA? If this is the route we ought to take, maybe we should petition Britain to recolonize us”. Then he seemed to have conceded a point when he wrote, “Why not Brazil . . .How about a defense treaty with Colombia?”
My response to Roger: Guyana is a very small country; it is also a very racially-divided country; in every election since 1992, the losing party, PNC has refused to accept the results. Such refusals can lead to upheavals, a wrecked economy, and unraveling of the social fabric of society. A lot is at stake. It makes sense to me to consider amending the Constitution and re-institute the Gov-Gen’s post – and ask the U.S. Govt to perform that basic oversight role over our govt. This is certainly not re-colonization. Recognize Guyana is a small, vulnerable State – and it does need help from a superpower State whose values align with Guyana’s. Both parties, in my view, have already conceded the need for U.S. govt’s help when problems arise.
Freddie Kissoon’s article titled, “OGGN, two fools and the dull and ignorant” has all the appearances of a political attack you would find in a lunatic fringe rag. He mentioned my letter – but I could not find a single sentence in which he attempted to rebut my suggestion calling for the re-institution of the Governor-General’s post in the Guyana Constitution.
Freddie is an educated man, quite capable of making counter arguments against my suggestion. Freddie used his column to release his stored-up bile on Timothy Jonas, Vincent Alexander, Vishnu Bisram, Bertrand Ramcharan, Andre Brandli, and me. What he ended up telling the readers is that many of these named folks find him obnoxious. Listen Freddie, I will treat you with the respect you deserve; now please go ahead and rebut my submission on the political vacuum that exists in the Guyanese Constitution and system of Governance. Focus only on the harm done to the state of Guyana when Burnham abolished the post of Gov Gen – and if you agree how we may amend the Constitution to reinstitute that post – and ask the Govt of the United States to perform that oversight role over the State of Guyana.
Mike Persaud.
