Senior Director at Americas Market Intelligence (AMI), Dr. Remi Piet, and Arthur Deakin, an Analyst at AMI, are of the firm belief that along with transparency, ethnic inclusion will be “make or break” factor against which the success of the PPP administration will be assessed. The experts made these and other statements in their most recent opinion piece following the resolution of Guyana’s five-month long elections.
Dr. Piet and Deakin said it is common for new administrations across the globe to ‘clean house’ when they assume office. They said that this is especially true in Guyana where a highly divided population is split not only through political lines but via ethnic ones as well. The industry specialists said that in Guyana, the separation is largely between Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese, with a small Indigenous minority. They noted too that it is common for departing administrations to award long-term contracts and appoint confidants to important positions. Taking this into consideration, the experts said, “This is why the new administration should conduct an independent review of any ‘unsupervised’ last-minute decisions made by Granger in his winding days.”
Further to this, they opined that Guyana and its citizens would also benefit from an administration that picks its people based on merit, not just their political affiliation and ethnicity. Dr. Piet and Deakin said that this allows for a smoother political transition and ensures that Guyana can build on the groundwork laid by the previous administration.
At the end of the day, the analysts said that President Ali cannot afford to simply discard those that are of different ethnic backgrounds. If past experiences are any indication, they said that the most successful presidents are the ones who are able to establish good relations with both sides of the aisle.
