Georgetown: Emphasising that the people have given a mandate to the politicians to manage the nation’s business in the interest of the people, General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), Lincoln Lewis, on the eve of Head of State Donald Ramotar’s ceremonial opening of the 10th Parliament, laid out his demands on behalf of his constituency.
However, Lewis is confident that the new President will, unlike his predecessor, Bharrat Jagdeo, listen to the demands of the union body.
The General Secretary while hosting a press briefing yesterday at the Critchlow Labour College told media operatives that despite the rhetoric being spewed by the President as it relates to continuing along the Jagdeo line that “he (Donald Ramotar) will part ways from the autocratic rule of Jagdeo and seek to carve out a legacy of his own.”
The GTUC Executive Member was at the time expressing why he believes that his utterances will not fall on deaf ears even as he amplified the notion that “to whom much is given much is expected.”
According to him it is important for Ramotar to be cognizant of the fact that the opening of the 10th Parliament comes at a time of the conclusion of a period during which the former President had ascribed to himself a high level of autocracy and during which “we saw the miniaturization of every state entity and the denuding of their rights and responsibility in executing the respective mandate to the nation's citizens.”
Lewis pointed out too that this practice by Jagdeo has crept even into non-governmental organisations and has thrown up ‘little Caesars’ that ascribe to themselves; the authority to miniaturize managers at various levels of management. “This dictatorial act has contributed to the level of decay in society, that has seen our Constitution and Laws violated and citizens and workers' rights transgressed with impunity…This is the state of affairs President Ramotar has inherited and he must immediately seek to depart from it if he is to create a just society during his tenure in office,” Lewis asserted.
He pointed out too that the Constitution is designed to forge a system of governance that promotes concerted effort and broad-based participation in national decision-making in order to develop a viable economy and a harmonious community. This, he said, should be based on democratic values, social justice, fundamental human rights and the rule of law even as efforts are made to “celebrate our cultural and racial diversity and strengthen our unity by eliminating any and every form of discrimination…in our collective quest for a perfect nation.”
According to Lewis it is Labour's fervent view that first and foremost, Ramotar needs to address an array of issues in his address to point the nation in another direction. These, Lewis said include the right to freedom of association for every citizen to affiliate to a political party or any civic grouping of choice, as they simultaneously enjoy the protection from being discriminated against by the Government for exercising such choice.
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