Guyana, hailed as the land of the many waters, six peoples, the mighty Essequibo River, and the majestic Kaieteur Waterfalls, is the only English-speaking country in South America. It has an estimated population of around 800,000. Unfortunately, Guyana is best known for the Jonestown massacre, the authoritarian rule of Linden Forbes Burnham, and its status as a highly indebted poor country (HIPC). However, on October 5, 1992 Guyana held historic free and fair elections, which were supposed to end a long era of corrupt electoral arrangements and the prolonged disembowelment of the legitimacy of the country’s political institutions. Sixteen years later, lingering questions remain about whether or not the promises of democracy have been brought to the Guyanese people.
Starting with its ascent to government in 1992, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), under the guidance of four presidents, Cheddi Jagan, Sam Hinds, Janet Jagan, and Bharrat Jagdeo, promised to lead Guyana into an unprecedented era of democracy and rebuilding following the tremulous years of the eighties. Into the mid-nineties, Guyana’s track record on democratic governance defined by the “rule of law” was given positive reviews. Upon entering office, the PPP quickly embarked upon the implementation of neoliberal economic policies that have been praised by international institutions and agencies. In terms of politics, since 1992 free and fair elections have been held at regular intervals; however, the emphasis on elections as the defining democratic criterion has been criticized. Indeed, over the last three years, and especially within the last three months, pundits have began to question whether or not Guyana under the helm of the Jagdeo administration has started to renege on the basic democratic principles measured in Countries at the Crossroads: accountability and public voice, civil liberties, rule of law, and anticorruption.
These questions have been raised most vocally in light of the continuous and persistent violence and corruption that have plagued the country. In late September 2008, Transparency International (TI) noted that Guyana was second most corrupt country in the Caribbean/CARICOM region, trailing only Haiti. While the head of Guyana's Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon, was quick to rebut these claims as reflecting bias and a flawed methodology, local newspapers continue to cite the fact that only certain people or segments of the population benefit from donor aid and governmental spending, while the international community turns a blind eye to corruption.
Violence has received the most headlines of all. On June 21, 2008 Mr. George Arokium discovered that all eight of his workers at the Lindo Creek Diamond Mining Camp, near Christmas Falls on the Berbice River, had been murdered. They were shot in the head and burnt, with only their bones recovered. Allegations soon surfaced that the Guyana police and military had committed the killings. President Bharrat Jagdeo has adamantly refused to appoint a commission of inquiry into the killings, even though cellular phone records indicate that the phone of one of the individuals killed in the tragedy was used for several days by the perpetrators to make calls. It was not the first accusation of extrajudicial killings by police; a number have supposedly been carried out in response to the rampant violence in and around the capital, Georgetown. One example was the slaying by police of two known and wanted criminals, Rondell Rawlins, “known as Fineman,” and Jermaine Charles, known as “Skinny,” on August 29. The Rawlins gang was accused of committing one of the worst human right tragedies in Guyana’s recent history when 11 people, including 5 children, were killed in cold blood on January 27 in Lusignan, a village just outside of the capital. Less than a month later, on February 17, a killing rampage left 13 people dead in the mining town of Bartica, some 130 kilometres from Georgetown. These events were similar to the massacre in the village of Agricola in March of 2006, in which 8 persons were killed. The frequency of massacres in such a small country has brought deserved attention to the shortcomings in the rule of law and civil liberties afforded to Guyanese citizens. However, rather than tackling the root problems both the ruling PPP and the minority Party, the PNC-R, have emphasized that the killings of these criminals should restore stability. It should be noted that before the Rawlins’ gang terrorized citizens, Roger Khan's phantom death squad, which executed about 200 people, had its reign of terror and was even alleged to have ties to the Jagdeo administration.
As in other countries where heavy-handed government and criminal impunity remain problematic, another sphere of notable incursion upon democratic freedoms in Guyana over the last six months has been the suppression of press freedoms. The government has done its part by placing restrictions on journalists such as Gordon Moseley and imposing a seventeen month withdrawal of state advertising revenue from the independent news media, Stabroek News. The government, through the Guyana Information Agency (GINA), first withdrew ads by 29 ministries and state agencies in November 2006, citing economic considerations. However, ads were subsequently placed in country’s two other dailies, the state-owned Guyana Chronicle News and the privately owned Kaieteur News, as well as the weekly Mirror, which is aligned with the ruling party. Regional and international press bodies have denounced the recent wave of press restrictions, the killing and harassment of journalists, and the refusal of the government to address these issues and other human rights violations.
The execution-style deaths of key individuals, including ministers and journalists, and the clamping down on press freedom by the government of Guyana indicate that the country is at a transitional crossroads. Guyana was once viewed as a beacon of hope, and for a time it consistently moved upwards in Freedom House’s ratings. However, the recent activities by the government are of great concern as Guyana starts to spiral downward in a manner somewhat reminiscent of the pre-1992 days. So as October 5 2008, faded slowly into the night and the Jagdeo administration praises the PPP’s sixteen years in office, concerns must be raised as to whether or not the Jagdeo years are starting to look very similar to Burnham era of dictatorial and autocratic rule. Should the state continue to turn a blind eye to the most essential freedoms and liberties granted to individuals, the future of democracy will be uncertain indeed.
