POLITICS-GUYANA: Govt.Seeks Protection in Regional Security System

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Bert Wilkinson

GEORGETOWN, May 15 1998 (IPS) - These days it appears as if anything the government of this South American republic does is viewed with suspicion.

So when earlier this week, government announced plans to enlist Guyana as the latest member of the Regional Security System (RSS) comprising relatively small regiments from Barbados and several of the tiny eastern Caribbean states, people began reading between the lines.

The bigger Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries –Haiti, Belize, Suriname, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are not members of the Barbados-based force which helped put down the 1990 coup attempt by a rebel Muslim group against the Trinidad and Tobago government.

The RSS, formed about 20 years ago as a regional strike force and led by Brigadier Rudy Lewis of Barbados, also participated in the US- led military intervention in Haiti in 1995 and has done humanitarian work in the aftermath of hurricanes in several countries in the region.

Many here believe the Janet Jagan-led government has made this move as it seeks protection from its neighbours in the event that there are widespread protests on the completion of investigations into last December’s general election, the results of which are still in dispute.

The investigations being carried out by experts from other countries in the region are expected to be completed by month end.

The audit was agreed upon in mid January at the height of street riots and civil unrest organised by the Desmond Hoyte-led People’s National Congress (PNC).

The PNC has maintained that the elections were unfair, for had it been otherwise it, and not the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) would have emerged winner.

The audit team is, however, going over every aspect of the elections, including the issuing of voter identification cards and the way in which votes were tallied following the Dec. 15 poll.

Both Hoyte and Jagan have agreed to accept the results as declared by the audit team which was put in place by Caricom following intervention of the regional body aimed at putting an end to the demonstrations back in December.

Dr. Leslie Ramsammy a member of the PPP observing the daily rechecking process says there is every indication that the audit team’s results will not differ significantly from that announced by the Elections Commission four days after voting had taken place because those elections were free and fair.

“The fact is that the Guyanese people know that the elections were free and fair. The fact is that the audit so far has verified this,” he says.

For his part, Hoyte held a huge rally in the city last week telling his party members to remain focused as the audit will show that the elections were far from fair. The party has filed an election petition to be heard in two months in the court. Material from the audit team could be added to the petition, observers say.

Meanwhile, Hoyte says the government is running scared of what could take place at the end of the investigation and that is the reason for applying for membership in the RSS.

“I suspect the government is scared of the anger of the ordinary citizen arising from their bad governance, corruption and victimisation,” he says.

Leader of the United Force party, Manzoor Nadir, says he objects to Guyana’s membership in the RSS for a different reason than Hoyte, arguing that it is a waste of money and energy. Even more importantly, says Nadir. Joining the RSS is not of critical importance at this time,

“We don’t need to become involved in any more regional organisations because we already lack the resources to service them properly,” said Nadir pointing to already established cooperation agreements with the US Southern Command and membership in the Organisation of American States (OAS).