OPINION: The so-called race dilemma in Guyana

Last Updated on Wednesday, 20 September 2023, 4:24 by Denis Chabrol

By Dr. Randolph Persaud, Professor Emeritus

Dr. Randolph Persaud

I read with interest a piece by Collin Haynes in the media talking about a “race dilemma” in Guyana (KN 19/9/2023). The main contention is that “[i]n order for the country to move past racial bias that’s (sic) been ingrained in the moral fabric and political psyche of the nation, every party in power must remove hiring friends, family and political comrades that appeal to the majority of their membership” (ibid). Allow me to address the concerns expressed, some of which do deserve consideration; the others worthy of summary dismissal because they are based on routinized complaints that have no basis in facts.

First, Haynes should know that political parties are key institutions in competitive democratic political systems. Political parties perform valuable mechanisms to develop and advocate policies. Good political parties, such as the PPP, have a deep line-up of highly competent supporters who work at developing these policies. Without them, you will have outfits like the WPA and AFC which lack the human resources to develop even basic macro-economic policies, or specialized policies in the areas of healthcare, education, national and international security, labor, trade and commerce, social security, state finances, climate change, natural resources, and also in the areas of culture, sports, and tourism. Good political parties also have political strategists, pollsters, data analysts, and an “army” of supporters who do the ‘legwork’ at election time.

I do not know how much Haynes knows about politics, but I can tell him that all governments, worldwide, engage in political appointments. Many ambassadors, for instance, are appointed purely and solely based on their political relationship with the party in power. How else do you think Callista Louise Gingrich, the wife of Newt Gingrich, was appointed as US Ambassador to the Holy See (Vatican)? The answer – because Newt has been a die-hard supporter of the Republican Party, and of Donald Trump. These kinds of hirings are standard in all democratic countries.

What is also well known, but perhaps not to Haynes, is that it is normal for issue-area experts to work across administrations from different political parties. In Guyana, while Sir Shridath Ramphal and Carl Greendige served as Foreign Ministers under the PNC and APNU-AFC respectively, they are both senior members of the Guyana team in defense of our territorial integrity against Venezuela. There are scores of individuals who are currently in the same category. In other words, what Haynes is advocating, is already in place. No race dilemma going on!

I want to go one step further and challenge Haynes to a basic test. Provide the names and political affiliations of the top two hundred civil servants (including but not restricted to the military, police, prison service, NIS, and so on) and show how your race dilemma stands up. This is an open challenge, and it is meant to be constructive.

Haynes lacks a basic understanding of the differences between a ‘government’ and the ‘state.’ While governments come and go depending on election results, the employees of the state do not necessarily switch out with the change in administrations. Haynes is not the only one oblivious to the differences between government and state, and the associated norms related to political appointments. Vincent Adams is equally clueless on this point, as are race entrepreneurs and others in the Kool Aid Gang who have imbibed the syrup racial antagonism. Adams was a political appointment, and had no right, be it legal or political, to retain his position at the EPA. If he were better informed, he would have resigned without even being asked.

Finally, it is important that the Guyanese people become more educated about politics, its keys institutions, how they function, and what one can expect from them. Without political parties, we will be left to the laws of nature where, as Thomas Hobbes once said, “life is nasty, brutish, and short.” Political parties provide the general infrastructure of organizing differences, advocating shared interest, and aggregating those interests along defined rules of the game. The latter revolves around the constitution of the country. We should be thankful that the PPP has managed to govern this nation according to those rules of the game. It is time to stop latching on to race and some of its fanciful constructions such as the “race dilemma.”

Dr. Randolph Persaud is an Adviser, Office of the President, Guyana.