Calls for Justice Bulkan to Recuse himself is Politically Charged , Not Grounded in Law 

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Mr. Quincy Anderson’s letter in the Chronicle  is not a serious contribution to jurisprudential debate; it is a politically loaded broadside dressed up as concern for judicial ethics—and it collapses under even minimal scrutiny.

At its core, the argument is both legally illiterate and strategically convenient.

The standard for judicial recusal is not built on guilt by association, nor on the political activities of a judge’s relatives. If that were the case, no judge in Guyana—or anywhere in the Commonwealth—could safely adjudicate politically sensitive matters without being subjected to endless, opportunistic disqualification campaigns.

Mr. Anderson leans heavily on “perception,” but weaponizes it in its most dangerous form: partisan suspicion masquerading as public concern. The law is clear. The test is whether a fair-minded and properly informed observer would conclude there is a real possibility of bias—not whether politically interested actors can manufacture doubt by invoking family connections.

By that standard, his argument fails completely.

Justice Arif Bulkan’s judicial record is unblemished. There has been no finding, no credible allegation, and no pattern of conduct suggesting bias. What Mr. Anderson offers instead is conjecture rooted in the independent political engagement of Justice Bulkan’s siblings—individuals over whom he has neither control nor legal responsibility. 

That is not an ethical breach; it is a reality of life in any democratic society.

More troubling, however, is the broader implication of this line of attack. If accepted, it would establish a corrosive precedent in which judges are assessed not by their rulings or conduct, but by the political identities of those around them. In a small, politically active society like Guyana, that standard would paralyze the judiciary and invite calculated efforts to disqualify judges for strategic gain.

Mr. Anderson also exposes a fundamental misunderstanding—or deliberate misrepresentation—of governance. The Government of Guyana is not synonymous with the PPP/C as a political party. Legal matters before the courts involve the State as a constitutional entity, not a partisan apparatus. 

Collapsing that distinction is not only inaccurate, it is dangerous, as suggests a view of governance in which party and state are indistinguishable.

Equally conspicuous is the timing. Justice Bulkan has served on the bench for years, including in matters of political sensitivity, without calls for recusal based on his family. Why now? 

Ethical concerns that emerge—only when politically convenient—invite skepticism about their true motivation.

Finally, there is the question of editorial judgment. Publishing such a thin, speculative attack on a sitting CCJ judge—without evidentiary grounding—does not elevate public discourse. It risks doing the opposite: normalizing the erosion of judicial credibility through insinuation rather than fact.

The integrity of the Caribbean Court of Justice is not safeguarded by entertaining arguments of this nature. It is preserved by adherence to established legal standards and by resisting attempts—however packaged—to undermine confidence in its judges without cause.

Justice Bulkan’s reputation has been built on decades of disciplined, ethical service. It cannot be undone by assertions that would not withstand even the most basic legal test.

SEEDS OF DECEIT

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THE 592 GUARDIAN

INDEPENDENT ACCOUNTABILITY JOURNALISM • GUYANA

EDITORIAL

SEEDS OF DECEIT:

How a $54 Billion Supplementary Bill

Exposes the Ali Administration’s Fiscal Fiction

Four months. That is all it took for Guyana’s largest-ever national budget to run dry — or so the Ali administration now asks us to believe. The President tours the Dominican Republic press circuit, proclaiming Guyana the region’s anchor of fiscal responsibility, even as his government returns, hat in hand, with a $54 billion supplementary request so vague in its particulars that it raises a question far graver than incompetence: is this the oil-funded war chest for the Local Government Elections?

                           THE EDITORS • 592 GUARDIAN • JUNE 2026                             

1. THE IMPLAUSIBILITY IS THE MESSAGE

On 26 January 2026, the National Assembly passed a record-breaking national budget. The Ali administration marketed it as a monument to transformational governance — the material proof that oil wealth was being translated into generational uplift. The numbers were staggering. The rhetoric was soaring. President Ali spoke of planting ‘forests of opportunity that will shelter generations to come.’ The international press was invited to witness Guyana’s arrival as a serious fiscal actor.

By June 2026 — roughly sixteen weeks later — the same administration had returned to the National Assembly with a supplementary appropriation bill seeking more than $54 billion in additional spending authority.

Let that sink in.

In the time it takes a secondary school student to complete a single term, Guyana’s government exhausted whatever buffer it had built into a historic spending plan. And not by a small margin. Fifty-four billion dollars is not a rounding error. It is not an emergency provision for a natural disaster or a regional economic shock. It is a sum that demands a full accounting — of what was miscalculated, what was deliberately omitted from the original budget, and what new priorities have emerged that are so urgent they cannot wait for the next fiscal cycle.

Instead, the nation has received vagueness. Generalities. Political boilerplate.                                                                         

11.THE COMPETENCE QUESTION CANNOT BE AVOIDED

There are two possible explanations for a government returning for a $54 billion supplementary appropriation within four months of passing its largest-ever budget. The first is incompetence. The second is dishonesty. Neither inspires confidence.

If the explanation is incompetence — if the Ministry of Finance and the administration’s technocrats genuinely failed to anticipate spending needs that materialized within a single quarter — then we are confronted with a profound indictment of the government’s planning capacity. Budget preparation in Guyana is not an ad hoc exercise. It involves months of ministry submissions, macroeconomic modelling, revenue projections, and Cabinet deliberation. The entire apparatus of the state is mobilized to produce the document that the government then presents to the nation as evidence of its stewardship.

If that document is wrong by $54 billion inside of sixteen weeks, one of the following must be true: the projections were wildly inaccurate; the assumptions underpinning the budget were known to be unrealistic when they were made; or the government is spending in areas it did not disclose to the National Assembly or the public. Any of these scenarios constitutes a failure of governance at the highest level.

President Ali presents himself internationally as the steward of a sophisticated oil economy, a leader who understands ‘deliberate diversification’ and ‘permanent transformation.’ His administration cannot simultaneously claim that competence while being unable to project spending needs four months into the future.

III. THE VAGUENESS IS NOT ACCIDENTAL

The opacity surrounding the supplementary bill is, this Editorial Board submits, the most damning feature of the entire exercise. In a functioning democracy, a supplementary appropriation of this scale would be accompanied by granular detail: which line items are being augmented and why; what original projections proved wrong; which projects are being accelerated; and which emergent obligations necessitate additional spending.

What Guyanese have received instead is the political equivalent of a blank cheque.

Vagueness in public finance is never neutral. It is a choice. Governments that are spending in the public interest invite scrutiny because scrutiny validates their claims. Governments that are spending for political purposes obscure details because exposure would reveal the true beneficiaries. The Ali administration’s refusal to provide itemized justifications for $54 billion in additional expenditure — in an election year — is not an administrative oversight. It is a red flag of the highest order.

The nation is owed specific answers to the following questions, and this Board demands they be answered on the floor of the National Assembly and in public written submissions to the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee:

THE QUESTIONS THIS ADMINISTRATION MUST ANSWER
1.  Which specific budget lines are being supplemented, by how much, and why did original projections fail?
2.  What procurement processes, if any, will govern the expenditure of these additional funds?
3.  Are any of these funds earmarked for infrastructure projects in constituencies targeted in the upcoming Local Government Elections?
4.  Who authorized the spending commitments that necessitated this request, and when were those commitments made?
5.  Has the Ministry of Finance revised its full-year revenue and expenditure projections in light of this shortfall?
6.  What is the draw-down status of the Natural Resource Fund, and what disbursement approvals have been made since 1 January 2026?

IV.THE ELECTION HYPOTHESIS

The 592 Guardian does not make accusations lightly. We are, however, compelled by the available evidence to state what many Guyanese are already saying in their homes, on their minibuses, and on social media: this supplementary bill has the appearance — and the timing — of an electoral financing vehicle.

The Local Government Elections are approaching. The Ali administration is acutely aware of the legitimacy it derives from constituency-level victories. The pattern of large, vaguely justified expenditure coinciding with electoral cycles is not novel in Guyanese political history — and it has not been unique to any single party. What is novel is the scale. Fifty-four billion dollars in supplementary spending authority, sought from a compliant National Assembly majority, with minimal public itemization, in the months before a national vote, represents a qualitatively new threshold of fiscal-political risk.

The government will, predictably, deny this. It will cite development imperatives, emergent capital needs, and the accelerating pace of transformation. It will point to visible projects — roads, hospitals, solar installations — as evidence that the money is going where it should. It will accuse critics of playing politics.

But accusations do not require guilt — they require accountability. And accountability requires transparency. Show us the line items. Show us the procurement records. Show us the disbursement schedule. If the spending is legitimate, the documentation will vindicate the government. If it is not, the Guyanese people deserve to know before they cast their votes, not after.

V.THE FORTRESS AND THE FICTION

President Ali told the Dominican Republic’s energy press that the Natural Resource Fund is Guyana’s ‘fortress of fiscal responsibility.’ It is a fine phrase. It is the kind of language that sounds authoritative in a glossy magazine feature or an investor roadshow. But a fortress that requires a $54 billion emergency drawdown four months into the fiscal year is not a fortress. It is a façade.

The President speaks internationally of ‘deliberate diversification’ and ‘long-term transformation.’ He invokes future generations. He promises forests of opportunity. But one cannot credibly plan for future generations while demonstrating an inability to project spending needs over a single fiscal quarter. These two positions — visionary stewardship of intergenerational wealth and chaotic, opaque supplementary demands — are irreconcilable. The international audience hearing the inspiring version of this story deserves to know the domestic reality.

Guyana’s oil wealth is real. The developmental opportunity it represents is real. The damage that fiscal recklessness, elite capture, and political manipulation of that wealth can inflict is equally real. The resource curse that President Ali so confidently claims to be defying is not conjured by pessimists — it is documented, in granular detail, in the economic histories of Nigeria, Angola, Venezuela, and a dozen other states where the rhetoric of transformation preceded decades of squandered potential.

The antidote to that curse is not confident rhetoric. It is institutional transparency, robust parliamentary oversight, independent auditing, and a media and civil society willing to ask uncomfortable questions even when — especially when — the government’s international image is riding high.

VI.OUR DEMAND

The 592 Guardian calls on the National Assembly’s Opposition to refuse passage of this supplementary appropriation until the government tables a fully itemized breakdown of every line item, the originating ministry, the contractual basis for each expenditure, and the specific projects or programs to be funded.

We call on the Auditor General’s office to immediately flag this request for priority review and to publish a preliminary assessment of its consistency with the fiscal rules governing Natural Resource Fund disbursements.

We call on civil society organizations, the Private Sector Commission, and the academic community to add their voices to the demand for transparency. The silence of institutions in the face of fiscal opacity is itself a form of complicity.

And we call on every Guyanese citizen to remember, when they go to vote in the Local Government Elections, that a government which cannot explain where $54 billion went in sixteen weeks is not a government that has earned the right to speak of ‘forests of opportunity for generations to come.’

The seeds being planted today may indeed shelter generations — but they will be the wrong generation’s forest.

This editorial represents the independent position of The 592 Guardian Editorial Board. The 592 Guardian is an independent accountability publication committed to social justice journalism in Guyana and the wider Caribbean region.

© 2026 The 592 Guardian •  All rights reserved

A Bridge for Foreigners

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THE 592 GUARDIAN

ACCOUNTABILITY JOURNALISM | EDITORIAL

EXTRACTIVE ECONOMY | PUBLIC INTEREST

A Bridge for Foreigners

The US$6M Puruni River crossing is being sold as national development. The evidence suggests it is national infrastructure in the service of foreign extraction.

“When a government’s flagship infrastructure projects are routed through mining corridors rather than communities, the priorities are not a mystery — they are a policy.”

A Ribbon-Cutting in a Resource Corridor

The announcement of a US$6 million bridge across the Puruni River arrived, as these announcements usually do, dressed in the language of national progress. Infrastructure. Connectivity. Development. The government’s enthusiasm was unmistakable. What was somewhat less visible, buried beneath the promotional framing, was the answer to the simplest of editorial questions: development for whom?

The Puruni River sits inside Region 7, Cuyuni-Mazaruni — one of Guyana’s most mineral-rich districts and, not coincidentally, one of its most infrastructure-starved. Gold is the defining industry. Canadian-controlled mining giants have staked claims there that, at current commodity prices, represent potential earnings in the billions. The Puruni bridge, by the government’s own accounting, will service thousands of mining properties, ease the movement of extraction equipment, and accelerate the throughput of gold. What it will not do, at least not by design, is address the chronic absence of adequate schools, functional healthcare facilities, or paved roads that serve the daily lives of Guyanese citizens who have lived alongside this wealth for generations.

The Pattern Is the Policy

Isolated, this bridge could be a footnote. In context, it is a case study.

The Ali administration has developed a consistent infrastructure logic: public capital flows toward extraction corridors; Guyanese communities receive the rhetoric of the trickle-down. The government celebrates the expansion of foreign mining operations as a national achievement — as if the flag on a press release constitutes a share in the profits. It does not.

The arithmetic is not complicated. Guyana is, by macroeconomic measure, one of the fastest-growing economies on the planet. It is also a country where flood response is chronically mismanaged, where regional hospitals lack basic equipment, where schoolchildren learn in structures that would fail any building inspection, and where the rural poor — overwhelmingly Indigenous and Afro-Guyanese — remain structurally excluded from the oil and mineral wealth extracted from or near their ancestral territories. A government that can mobilize US$6 million for a mining corridor bridge within a single budget cycle has made a choice. That choice has a name: it is called prioritization, and this government’s priorities are legible.

The State as Enabler-in-Chief

The deeper problem is structural. When a state’s infrastructure investments systematically reduce the operating costs of foreign extractive capital, the state is not acting as a neutral development agent — it is acting as a subsidizer of private profit.

The Puruni bridge does not merely facilitate gold movement; it de-risks the logistics chain for multinational mining operations that will repatriate the bulk of their earnings offshore. Guyanese taxpayers will maintain this bridge. Guyanese communities will bear its environmental and social externalities. The companies whose bottom lines it fattens will file their dividends in Toronto and London.

This arrangement has a technical term in development economics: regulatory capture applied to public investment. When the infrastructure budget reads like a wish list drafted by the mining sector, the question of whose government this actually is becomes something other than rhetorical. The government will object, of course. It will cite royalties, tax revenues, employment figures. These are not nothing. They are also not the whole story, and a government that produces only the flattering parts of the ledger is not being transparent — it is being selective.

What Genuine Development Looks Like

The 592 Guardian does not oppose infrastructure. We oppose infrastructure whose primary function is to lower the overhead of foreign capital while communities that share the same geography wait decades for a functioning clinic.

Development that cannot be explained to a mining-adjacent community in terms of what it materially delivers to that community is not national development. It is a subsidy wearing a hard hat.

Genuine resource nationalism — the kind this government invokes when it suits — would require that the profits generated by Guyanese mineral wealth remain, in meaningful proportion, in Guyana: not in the capital’s patronage networks, not in foreign shareholder accounts, but in communities.

In roads that lead to hospitals, not ore pads. In schools that produce engineers capable of operating the mines that are already here. In governance frameworks that put Guyanese citizens, not Canadian mining companies, at the centre of infrastructure planning.

ACCOUNTABILITY DEMANDS

The 592 Guardian calls on the Government of Guyana to:

  1. Publish a full cost-benefit analysis of the Puruni River bridge, disaggregated by beneficiary — identifying which concessions, companies, and communities will be served — before any further public funds are disbursed.
  2. Disclose the ownership structures of all mining operations that will directly benefit from this infrastructure, including any beneficial ownership registered in jurisdictions outside Guyana.
  3. Table a community infrastructure equivalency commitment: for every dollar invested in extraction-linked infrastructure in Region 7, a matching allocation to schools, healthcare, and potable water in directly adjacent communities.
  4. Establish an independent Infrastructure Prioritization Audit, with civil society and Indigenous community representation, to assess whether national infrastructure spending reflects public interest or private extraction interest.
  5. Answer plainly, in Parliament, the following question: what percentage of the projected lifetime earnings of operations served by the Puruni bridge will remain within Guyana’s domestic economy?

A government that builds bridges for foreigners while Guyanese wait for clinics is not developing a nation. It is managing an extraction site.

— The Editors, The 592 Guardian

𝙏𝙝𝙚 592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙂𝙪𝙮𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙘, 𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙨.

GOLD SHARES FOR GUYANESE?

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or Another Elite Capture in the Making?

GOLD SHARES FOR GUYANESE?

Or Another Elite Capture in the Making?

Guyana is once again being asked to believe in a promise: that ordinary citizens will finally get a meaningful stake in the country’s vast natural wealth. This time, the vehicle is a proposed junior stock exchange, with the President announcing that a major gold developer has agreed to reserve shares for Guyanese investors.

On its face, the idea is compelling. For decades, the country’s extractive sectors—gold included—have generated immense value with limited broad-based ownership. If structured properly, a junior exchange could democratize investment, deepen the capital market, and give small and medium-sized Guyanese businesses a foothold in industries historically dominated by foreign capital and a narrow domestic elite.

But that “if” is doing a lot of work.

The first red flag is the absence of detail. Who exactly qualifies as “Guyanese investors”? Will there be caps to prevent politically connected insiders from cornering these reserved shares? What safeguards will ensure that this does not become another paper opportunity—announced with fanfare but captured quietly by those with privileged access to capital and information?

Guyana does not lack for cautionary tales. From land allocations to oil service contracts, the pattern has often been the same: public rhetoric about inclusion, followed by concentrated benefits for a well-positioned few

 

Without transparent allocation mechanisms, clear eligibility rules, and independent oversight, a “reserved shares” scheme risks becoming just another avenue for elite accumulation.

The second concern lies in timing and institutional readiness. A junior stock exchange is not simply a political announcement—it requires a robust regulatory framework, investor protections, disclosure standards, and enforcement capacity. The Guyana Securities Council, already operating in a limited market environment, will need significant strengthening to oversee what could quickly become a high-risk, speculative space.

Junior exchanges globally are notorious for volatility and, in some cases, manipulation. If Guyana rushes this process without building regulatory muscle, it could expose inexperienced local investors to predatory practices, inflated valuations, and eventual losses. In that scenario, “participation” becomes a liability rather than empowerment.

Then there is the broader policy coherence question. The President has linked this initiative to local content expansion beyond oil and gas, alongside plans for a development bank and diaspora bonds. While each of these instruments has merit, taken together they suggest a rapidly expanding state-led financial architecture that may outpace the country’s governance capacity.

A development bank without strict lending discipline can become a political slush fund. Diaspora bonds, if not transparently managed, can erode trust among overseas Guyanese whose remittances already sustain large parts of the economy. Layering a junior stock exchange onto this mix raises the stakes considerably.

None of this is to argue against the idea of wider ownership. In fact, Guyana urgently needs mechanisms that allow its citizens to build wealth from the country’s resource boom. But inclusion cannot be performative—it must be structured, enforceable, and transparent.

If the government is serious, several principles should be non-negotiable.

First, full public disclosure of any agreement with the gold developer, including how many shares are being reserved and under what conditions.

Second, clear and enforceable allocation rules that prioritize broad participation—potentially through limits per investor, priority windows for small investors, or pooled investment vehicles.

Third, independent oversight, not political supervision, of the allocation process.

Fourth, accelerated strengthening of financial regulation, investor education, and market surveillance before the exchange becomes operational.

Without these, the promise of “massive participation” risks becoming another slogan—one that masks a familiar outcome.

Guyana stands at a defining moment. The country’s leaders can either build systems that genuinely distribute opportunity, or they can continue to preside over a model where wealth is concentrated, even as the language of inclusion grows louder.

The difference will not be in the announcements, but in the architecture behind them—and in who ultimately ends up holding the shares.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙂𝙪𝙮𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙘, 𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙨.

FOOLS GOLD AT THE LENDING WINDOW

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THE 592 GUARDIAN

Accountability. Without Apology.

EDITORIAL  |  JUNE 2026

FOOL’S GOLD AT THE LENDING WINDOW

The PPP’s ‘Development Bank’ Is Not a Lifeline for Small Business — It Is a Slush Fund with a Press Release

Floyd Haynes, Chairman of Newhaven Merchant Bank, concluded his recent op-ed on the proposed SME Development Bank with a quiet prayer dressed up as policy analysis: “If we get this right…”

If.

That single syllable, tucked into the closing paragraph of an otherwise enthusiastic endorsement, contains more honesty than anything else in the piece. Because the question Haynes cannot bring himself to answer — and the question every Guyanese citizen should be demanding an answer to — is this: When, precisely, have we ever gotten this right?

Not once. Not in any institution of consequence built by this administration or its predecessors under this governing arrangement. Not in the road contracts that ballooned and stalled. Not in the housing schemes that became patronage lotteries. Not in the public procurement processes that enriched the well-connected while the public waited. Not in the regional administrations where accountability travels in one direction — upward, to party headquarters — and never back to the people.

The record is not ambiguous. It is not contested. It is carved into the landscape of every region in this country in the form of unfinished projects, overpriced contracts, and quietly shelved reports. And yet, here we are again — presented with a US$200 million institution and asked to believe that this time will be different.

“If we get this right” — Mr. Haynes, that conditional is not a caveat. It is a confession.

THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE FAMILIAR

Strip away the language of inclusion — the seamstress in Sophia, the agro-processor in Berbice, the wheelchair-using developer in Linden, all of them deployed as rhetorical furniture to make a political instrument sound like social policy — and what you have is a lending institution that will be capitalised with public money, governed under political oversight, and staffed, at the decision-making level, by individuals whose primary qualification will not be credit analysis or development economics.

It will be loyalty.

That is not cynicism. That is the operational pattern of every quasi-public institution this government has touched. The question of who makes the final lending decisions is not addressed anywhere in the Haynes piece, nor in any of the administration’s announcements. There is talk of governance frameworks, transparency pillars, and independent credit assessment. There is no talk of who appoints the board. There is no talk of what protections exist against ministerial interference in individual loan decisions. There is no talk of what happens when a party financier’s cousin applies for GY$3 million to start a business he has no intention of running.

These omissions are not oversights. They are the design.

ZERO INTEREST, ZERO ACCOUNTABILITY

Mr. Haynes is correct that commercial lending rates of 10 to 14 per cent are prohibitive for micro-enterprises. He is correct that collateral requirements exclude women, young people, and persons with disabilities at disproportionate rates. These are real structural failures of the Guyanese financial system, and they deserve a real structural response.

But a zero-interest loan pool administered by a politically appointed institution, without enforceable arm’s-length governance, is not a structural response. It is a structural opportunity — for the party, not the public.

Zero interest and reduced collateral are not just pro-small-business features. They are also the precise combination of conditions that make a lending institution maximally attractive as a vehicle for politically directed disbursement. The lower the barrier to lending, the wider the discretion available to those controlling the tap. The less collateral required, the less documentation needed to justify a decision. The more that decisions can be framed as serving the bank’s social mandate, the harder it becomes to challenge any individual disbursement.

This is the cobra effect Mr. Haynes references — but he applies it narrowly, to borrowers who might default. He does not apply it to the institution itself, which faces every incentive to lend politically and no enforceable constraint to prevent it.

The lower the barrier to lending, the wider the discretion available to those controlling the tap.

APPEASEMENT INFRASTRUCTURE

Let us be direct about what this bank is in the context of Guyanese political economy.

The PPP has, over the course of this oil boom, constructed a vast machinery of resource distribution. Contracts, jobs, housing allocations, scholarships, cash grants — each instrument serves a dual function: a stated public purpose and an unstated political one. The stated purpose is what gets written into op-eds and ministerial speeches. The unstated purpose is what keeps the base mobilized, keeps the loyalists rewarded, and keeps the opposition constituencies just comfortable enough not to organize.

A development bank with GY$3 million zero-interest loans is not a departure from this machinery. It is the most sophisticated addition to it yet. It is targeted at demographics — youth, women, small business owners — whose support is politically valuable and whose economic precarity makes them susceptible to cultivation. It offers enough real benefit to the base that the political dividend is genuine, while the institutional structure ensures that the discretionary benefits flow to those who matter.

This is not a conspiracy theory. This is how patronage democracies function. They do not distribute nothing — they distribute selectively, visibly, and with just enough reach to sustain the narrative that the party governs for everyone. The seamstress in Sophia gets her loan. The party agent gets ten.

THE UNTOUCHABLE CLASS

There is a deeper structural point that the Haynes analysis — earnest though it may be — entirely misses. The establishment of this bank is not simply a policy decision. It is another layer of the oligarchic architecture that this administration has been building, methodically and with considerable sophistication, since it returned to power.

That architecture operates on a simple principle: enough money and enough loyalists, deployed across enough institutions, creates a class that is untouchable regardless of electoral outcomes. When the contracts are awarded to your allies, the boards are populated by your supporters, the lending decisions are made by your appointees, and the beneficiary lists contain enough ordinary names to create plausible deniability — you are not merely governing. You are constructing a permanent infrastructure of advantage that survives government.

In or out of power, the class that controls these flows is the untouchable class. The development bank, far from being a challenge to that structure, is one of its most elegant expressions. It takes the credibility of financial inclusion — a cause with genuine moral weight — and uses it to launder the distribution of resources to the network.

Mr. Haynes calls for vigilance. We agree. But vigilance directed at the borrowers — will they default, will they use the money wisely — is precisely the misdirection the architects of this institution are counting on. The vigilance that matters is directed at the lenders: Who appointed them? Who do they answer to? When a politically connected applicant’s file moves to the top of the queue, who pushes back, and at what personal cost?

WHAT DUE DILIGENCE ACTUALLY REQUIRES

The 592 Guardian does not oppose access to credit for small Guyanese businesses. We have consistently argued that the formal financial sector’s exclusion of women, youth, and rural entrepreneurs is one of the most consequential structural failures in this economy. The principle behind this bank is not wrong. The problem is that principles do not govern institutions — people do, and the people who will govern this institution have not been named, have not been subjected to any public vetting, and have not been required to operate under any governance framework that exists independently of the executive branch.

Before a single loan is disbursed, the public is owed answers to the following:

Who appoints the board, and can the President or Cabinet remove a board member without parliamentary approval? What is the explicit prohibition on current or former party officers serving in decision-making roles? What is the independent complaints and appeals mechanism for rejected applicants who believe political criteria influenced their outcome? What are the quarterly public reporting obligations, and who has the legal standing to enforce them? Who conducts the external audit, and does that auditor report to Parliament rather than the Ministry?

None of these questions are addressed in the government’s announcements. None are addressed in the Haynes piece. Their absence is not incidental.

GETTING IT RIGHT HAS NEVER BEEN THE PLAN

Mr. Haynes writes that “if we get this right, a decade from now we will look back on the establishment of this bank as the moment Guyana decided that prosperity would be built from the bottom up.”

It is a stirring vision. It also assumes that getting it right is the objective.

The record of this administration — on public procurement, on oil revenue governance, on the management of state enterprises, on the awarding of infrastructure contracts, on the population of every board and commission of consequence — suggests that getting it right, in the sense Mr. Haynes means, has never been the primary objective. The primary objective has been getting it done in a way that consolidates power, rewards loyalty, and constructs durable institutional advantage for the ruling class.

A development bank, given that objective, is not a vehicle for financial inclusion. It is a vehicle for financial control. The inclusion is the cover. The control is the point.

The seamstress in Sophia gets her loan. The party agent gets ten.

— The Editors

The 592 Guardian | Georgetown, Guyana

STATE CAPTURE BY DESIGN

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592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣 –𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝 ♦𝘼𝙘𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮♦𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮

A 592 GUARDIAN | ACCOUNTABILITY EDITORIAL

State Capture by Design

Guyana is being governed increasingly by the logic of concentration, not consultation. What on the surface is sold as development is often, on closer inspection, the careful assembling of political, financial and institutional power into fewer and fewer hands.

The latest evidence is not subtle. A government-backed effort to place the Development Bank under the direct control of the Finance Minister, without meaningful oversight from the Opposition, transparency bodies or civil society, is not reform in any democratic sense.

It is centralization. And when a state centralizes control over credit, appointments and lending discretion, it is not merely reorganizing administration; it is deciding who gets to rise and who must remain excluded.

That is why the new aircraft story, acquired by XEN Aviation- which some will present as a sign of private-sector confidence and national progress, deserves a more skeptical reading. Yes, Guyana needs improved domestic connectivity. Yes, hinterland aviation matters. But in a society where access to state power, finance and regulatory advantage increasingly appears to follow the same narrow corridors, even legitimate business expansion can become part of a larger architecture of privilege.

This is how oligarchic systems mature. They do not announce themselves with slogans. They arrive through appointments, lending power, procurement channels, regulatory softness and institutional capture. They arrive when the gates of opportunity are opened wide for the connected but remain locked for the ordinary citizen. They arrive when the small entrepreneur is told to wait, comply and queue, while the well-connected are ushered forward with speed, access and approval.

A Development Bank controlled directly by the Finance Minister, with weak or absent independent oversight, is not just an administrative concern. It is a constitutional and democratic one.

Development finance is supposed to widen participation in the economy, not become another instrument through which influence is distributed to the already powerful.

If the bank’s directors, chairperson and deputy chair are all appointed by the very political authority that stands to benefit from its operations, then the institution is compromised at its foundation.

And once that foundation is compromised, the rest follows predictably. Lending decisions become opaque. Due diligence becomes selective. Favoritism acquires the appearance of policy. Those with access to the inner circle move faster, borrow easier, and expand more aggressively, while everyone else is left to compete in a rigged environment dressed up as market freedom.

This is why the debate cannot be reduced to personalities. It is not enough to say one businessman is expanding, or one aircraft has entered the fleet, or one project is commercially sensible. The deeper question is whether Guyana is building an economy that is open, competitive and rule-bound, or one in which the state quietly functions as a mechanism for consolidating wealth among the politically adjacent.

That question matters because institutions do not collapse all at once. They are hollowed out gradually. Oversight is weakened first. Then rules are bent. Then exceptions become routine. Then the public is told that every concentration of power is necessary for efficiency, every objection is obstruction, and every critique is somehow anti-development.

By the time citizens realize what has happened, the machinery of advancement has already been converted into the machinery of exclusion.

Guyana is now at risk of exactly that trajectory. A class is emerging—wealthy, insulated and politically protected—whose reach may soon exceed the practical limits of democratic accountability.

 When people accumulate enough money, leverage and institutional influence, elections remain necessary but no longer sufficient. Ballots still exist, but the terrain on which voters stand has already been tilted.

That is the danger. Not merely corruption in the conventional sense, but state capture in the deeper sense: the bending of institutions to preserve wealth, shield influence and determine outcomes in advance. When the judiciary, regulators, financial institutions and development agencies all begin to reflect the preferences of a narrow circle, democracy survives only as a ceremony.

This is why vigilance matters now, before the architecture hardens. A nation does not need to formally abolish democracy to weaken it beyond recognition. It only needs to make sure that the most important levers of power are no longer meaningfully accessible to scrutiny, competition or dissent.

That is the real story. Not merely an aircraft. Not merely a bank. Not merely one appointment or one expansion. It is the gradual conversion of the state into a tool of accumulation for a privileged few, while the language of development is used to disguise the transfer.

Guyana must not mistake growth for inclusion, nor activity for fairness. If the country is serious about building a modern economy, then development institutions must be insulated from partisan control, lending must be transparent, and oversight must be real. Otherwise, the promise of national advancement will be captured long before ordinary citizens ever reach the runway.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙂𝙪𝙮𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙘, 𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙨.

The Mesmerizing Flamboyancy of Suman Kalyanpur

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592 GUARDIAN♦ SPECIAL FEATURE

The Mesmerizing Flamboyancy of Suman Kalyanpur

OPINION 

BY: JAI LALL

The golden era of Indian artistes is lingering on the threshold of a fading twilight. Engulfed in the long shadow of refined Indian artistry comprising voices, vocals and vintage, there remain only but a few darlings who have gracefully traversed the iconic age of candor courtesy, charismatic challenges and couth culture. An entertaining memory lane from the 1930’s, endowed with the talented personalities featuring songs and music for the black and white movies in particular, has set sail after completing their musical sojourn on this earthly abode.

A name synonymous with the auspices of a good disposition, Suman Kalyanpur, a legendary playback singer from the filmy world of Bollywood, was born as Suman Hemmady on 28th January,1937 in Kolkata but brought to Dhaka (now Bangladesh), at the age of 3. She was bred in Bombay from 1943. This flower, interested in painting and music, burgeoned into a student initially learning classical music from Pandit Keshav Rao Bhole of Pune’s Prabhat Films, a close family friend. She later had other Gurus.

The versatile maestro who sang in over ten languages including Hindi, got her first chance to sing publicly for the All-India Radio in 1952. Her opportunity to break into the film industry was in 1953 in the Marathi Film, “Shukrachi Chandni.” Singing a lullaby in 1954, “Koi Pukaree Dheere Se Tujhe” from the movie “Mangu,” Suman Kalyanpur made her debut in the Hindi film world.

She then sang “Mohabbat Kar Lo Ji Bhar Lo Aji Kisne Rokha Hai” with Mohammed Rafi and Geeta Dutt for the film Aar Paar.

This veteran singer who became popular in particular in the 1960’s and 1970’s, spanned a recording three-decade famous career, perhaps was thankful to Talat Mahmood who was impressed with her singing after listening to her in a musical concert. Agreeing to do a duet with her, the film industry sat up and took notice of her and from then on, she blossomed into that velveteen voice with over 3,000 recordings to her credit.

Suman Ji sang duets with all the big-time playback singers and joined the elite group of India’s maestros with distinction including the romantic Mohammed Rafi, the sentimental Mukesh, the rollicking Kishore Kumar, the classical Manna Dey, the emotional Talat Mahmood and the sensational Hemant Kumar. This touching description qualifies the performing arts of Suman Ji’s capabilities.

Despite her unique gift, she was overshadowed with her touch, tone and tenderness similar to Lata Mangeshkar and often mistaken for this close semblance. This provided a limited negativity but an advantage when Lata’s “feud” and reluctance to sing with Rafi ji for a while, opened a flood —gate of performances because of her nuanced voice with Lata ji.

With the advent of award-winning stars from the big screen, Suman Kalyanpur stamped her authority as one of India’s favorite past time singers in Baat Ek Raat, Dil Ek Mandir, Dil Hi to Hai,Sanjh Aur Savera, Noor Jehan, Saathi, Pakeeza etc. Suman ji performed a rare duet with Lata ji with the classical song “Kabhi Aaj Kabhi Kal” from the 1959 movie “Chand.” In quite an entertaining scene, Balraj Sahni and Meena Kumarie witnessed the explosive, expressive and exclusive dancing ordeal by Helen and Sheila Waz.

Her visit to Guyana would shed tears in remembering her fantastic, feathery and famous finesse while performing the crazed twister Aajkal Tere Mere Pyaar Ke Charche, the moving Na Na Karte Pyaar, the electrifying Tumse Ho Hasinha, the thrilling Rahen Na Rahen Hum, the romantic Tumne Pukara Aur Hum Chale Aye, the emotional Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiyya, the melodious Mera Pyar Bhi Tu Hai, the classical Manamohan Man Mein Ho Tumhi etc. This never forgotten voice of exquisite exuberance and soft somberness was the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including; the three times Sur Sringar Samsad for the best classical song in Hindi movie; the Lata Mangeshkar Award by the Government of Maharashtra (2009); Ga Di Ma Award by Ga Di Ma Pratishthan; Mirchi Music Lifetime Achievement Award (2022); Padma Bhushan by the Government of India on 26th January 2023 and the Maharashtra Bhushan Ma Ta Sanman Puraskar by Maharashtra Times (2024).

The voice of the world fell quiet when Suman Kalyanpur bade us farewell on 31st May 2026 at her residence in Lokhandwala at the beautiful age of 89. She expired from age related issues while listening to her own recordings. Despite her often-mistaken voice for Lata ji, Suman Ji made her indelible articulation in her own resonating manner, silently but distinctly distinguishable in her own romantic, royal and resonating right.

Thank you Suman Kalyanpur ji for providing music lovers with your refreshing and rich recordings which will remain remnants of the haunting past of Indian melodious appeasement in a delicate era, dedicated and devoted to the cultural preservation of refined idolized musical artistry.

 

 

CABINET OUTREACH?

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THE 592 GUARDIAN♦ OPINION  ♦GTOWN, GUYANA

Cabinet Outreach or Constitutional Evasion?

PPP/C’s Travelling Government Exposes a Deeper Failure

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration wants Guyanese to believe that dispatching its entire Cabinet into hinterland and riverine communities is the gold standard of “representative politics.” Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, has gone further, branding these exercises as proof of “accountability” and “transparent governance.”

That claim does not withstand even minimal scrutiny.

What is being marketed as responsive governance is, in truth, a glaring admission that the very architecture of local democracy in Guyana is either broken, bypassed, or deliberately neutered.

Let us be clear: in any functioning democratic system, Cabinet does not need to fan out across the country to resolve routine community issues. That responsibility lies squarely with local democratic organs—Neighborhood Democratic Councils, municipalities, and Regional Democratic Councils—established, financed, and constitutionally recognized to serve precisely that purpose.

If those bodies were operationally sound, properly empowered, and allowed to function without political interference, there would be no need for this recurring spectacle of executive intervention.

Instead, what we are witnessing is a central government inserting itself into the day-to-day affairs of local communities—effectively substituting institutional governance with political presence.

This is not decentralization. It is control.

The irony is as stark as it is troubling. Taxpayers fund local government organs to manage community development, infrastructure, and services. Yet those same taxpayers are now footing the bill for large-scale Cabinet outreaches to perform those very functions. This is not efficiency or innovation—it is duplication driven by systemic failure.

And that failure does not exist in a vacuum.

It exists alongside a legislative backlog that continues to gather dust. Critical reforms that could strengthen local governance, clarify authority, and improve accountability remain stalled. The Attorney General, who now champions “direct engagement,” presides over a legal landscape where enabling frameworks for stronger institutions are either delayed, diluted, or deprioritized.

One cannot credibly speak of accountability while presiding over institutional stagnation.

What is unfolding instead is a model of governance rooted in micro-management. Ministers are no longer merely policymakers; they are troubleshooters, complaint officers, and project supervisors—roles that should be performed by empowered local bodies. This concentration of function inevitably leads to concentration of power, weakening the very democratic layers designed to distribute it.

Yes, citizens may feel heard when the President and Cabinet arrive in their communities. Yes, issues may be resolved with unusual speed. But governance cannot—and must not—be reduced to episodic interventions dependent on the physical presence of the political executive.

That is not a system. That is a workaround.

Even more revealing is the Attorney General’s assertion that no comparable initiative exists elsewhere in the Caribbean or Commonwealth. On that point, he may be correct—but not for the reasons he implies. Functional democracies do not require travelling Cabinets to maintain connection with their citizens. They rely on strong, accountable, and autonomous local institutions that work every day, not just when the political spotlight arrives.

What the PPP/C is presenting as a hallmark of good governance is, in reality, a symptom of institutional erosion.

If local democratic organs are ineffective, the solution is not to bypass them—it is to fix them. If they lack resources, capacity, or independence, then reform them. If they are being politically constrained, then release them. But do not replace them with a centralized model masquerading as “engagement.”

Because when governance becomes performative, accountability becomes selective—and democracy itself begins to thin.

The travelling Cabinet may generate headlines and momentary relief, but it raises a far more consequential question: is Guyana strengthening its democratic institutions, or quietly substituting them with executive convenience?

Until that question is honestly confronted, these outreach exercises will remain what they truly are—an elaborate political performance attempting to disguise a deep and widening governance deficit.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙂𝙪𝙮𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙘, 𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙨.

A VISIONARY FOR WHOM?

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 THE 592 GUARDIAN. EDITORIAL     

 A Visionary for Whom? Ali’s New Cover and the Berbice Gift That Cost Guyana Nothing but Sovereignty

The 592 Guardian Opinion 

 

President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali has been crowned “visionary” again. This time by a Dominican Republic energy magazine that placed him on its cover, calling Guyana

“One of the most influential investment and energy destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean”.

The compliment is smooth. The timing is convenient. The deal behind it demands scrutiny.

What earned President Ali this special recognition isn’t just the Stabroek Block’s offshore success, where ExxonMobil has found billions of barrels. It is something far more suspicious: the onshore Berbice Block, where three wells were drilled in 2005 and all came up dry, yet now serves as the centerpiece of a partnership that gives the Dominican Republic —10% of the stake without requiring a single dollar of investment

Let us congratulate President Ali, as the magazine does. For his elevation to cover status. For his warm personal relationship with Dominican President Abinader. For his “vision” in allowing a foreign state to ride on the backs of Guyanese taxpayers and feast at their table—all for bringing himself to the signing ceremony.

 The Deal That Makes “Visionary” Sound Like Theft

The terms are clear: the Dominican Petroleum Refinery (Refidomsa) receives 10% of the Berbice Block without upfront capital, without a signing bonus, and without bearing exploration risk.  Guyana, meanwhile, assumes 100% of the technical risk, the financial cost, and the environmental liability.

Onshore exploration carries its own risks. No production is guaranteed

Three wells drilled on Berbice in 2005 were dry holes. Yet the Dominican Republic gets a free option on a potential resource while Guyanese taxpayers shoulder the cost of the gamble.

If this were a private business deal, it would be called predatory. When a government does it, we call it “regional cooperation.”

 Visionary for the DR, not for Guyana

The Dominican Republic is import-dependent for energy. It needs oil. It needs gas. It needs security. This deal serves those interests, not Guyana’s development agenda.

Meanwhile, Guyana receives:

– No upfront payment

– No guaranteed discovery

– No technology transfer

– No jobs for local workers

– No infrastructure built for Guyanese communities

What Guyana gives:

– A 10% slice of future production (if any)

– Majority stake (>51%) for the DR in secondary projects

– Sovereignty over a resource block that could be worth billions

– The political capital of a “visionary” partnership

The magazine calls this visionary. The question is: visionary for whom?

 The Taxpayer’s Dime, the Foreigner’s Feast

The irony is grotesque. Guyanese taxpayers are paying for schools that remain unfinished, roads that wash out, hospitals that lack equipment, and a public sector that cannot compete with oil-company salaries.

Yet the government is willing to give away 10% of a potential oil block to a foreign state that brought nothing but a pen to the table.

This is not a partnership. This is hostility to the national interest disguised as diplomacy.

The president enjoys warm access to the DR’s top brass. That is politically useful. But warm diplomacy is not the same as equal benefit. When a foreign magazine celebrates the relationship, it is celebrating access, not public welfare.

 A Stinging Truth

Let us be clear: President Ali is not a visionary for giving away Guyana’s resources. He is a negotiator who signed a deal that serves foreign interests more than domestic needs.

The magazine’s cover is not a tribute to Guyana’s rise. It is an advertisement for the Dominican Republic’s success in securing a free stake in Guyana’s future.

The real visionary would be the one who says: “No. We will not give away our resources for free. We will not let foreign states ride on our taxpayers’ backs. We will negotiate fair terms that serve Guyanese people first.”

That visionary is not President Ali.

 The Bottom Line

President Ali deserves credit for offshore success. But the Berbice deal is a different story. It is a gift that costs Guyana nothing but sovereignty, and it is a gift that costs the Dominican Republic nothing but a signature.

The magazine calls it visionary. We call it what it is: a transaction that serves foreign energy security while Guyanese taxpayers carry the risk and wait for the reward.

Congratulations, President Ali, on your new cover. Congratulations on your special invitation for the DR to ride on your taxpayers’ backs. And congratulations on proving that in the world of oil diplomacy, the most “visionary” deals are often the ones that give the most away for the least in return. 

How can We Guyanese get such a sweetheart deal for themselves ? 

𝙏𝙝𝙚 592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙂𝙪𝙮𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙘, 𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙨.

Lawlessness Meets Leadership Failure

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592 GUARDIAN♦ OPINION♦ GTOWN, GUYANA♦JUNE 2026

Lawlessness Meets Leadership Failure

There comes a point when repetition stops being advocacy and becomes complicity.

Dr. Ryan Richards-WIN’s region 10 MP is not wrong. His assessment of the governance paralysis in Region Ten is, by all accounts, accurate, measured, and legally sound. The failure to convene the Regional Democratic Council, the exclusion of duly elected councilors from the budget process, and the shadowy persistence of actors from a previous council are not merely administrative missteps—they are affronts to law and democratic order.

But accuracy without action is impotence.

For months now, this issue has been ventilated across platforms—statements issued, concerns raised, alarms sounded. Yet the outcome remains unchanged. The Regional Democratic Council remains in limbo, the budget process advances in questionable legality, and the people of Region Ten continue to be governed without the full protection of their elected representatives.

At what point does raising concern give way to enforcing the law?  A political party that seeks national leadership cannot behave as a passive observer within its own stronghold. Region Ten is not hostile territory. It is a constituency that delivered a mandate. And a mandate is not a platform for press releases—it is a responsibility to act.

If, as Dr. Richards rightly suggests, the law is being breached, then the response cannot remain rhetorical. The courts exist for precisely this reason. Judicial review, injunctive relief, constitutional challenge—these are not extreme measures; they are the very instruments of democratic defense. To ignore them while continuing to lament illegality is to accept the erosion of governance in real time.

This is the uncomfortable truth: the failure here is no longer confined to the Regional Executive Officer or the administrative apparatus. It now extends to those elected to resist such overreach. Because when illegality is met only with statements, it learns that it can persist without consequence.

There is a deeper danger in this pattern. It conditions the public to see governance breaches as routine, accountability as optional, and representation as symbolic. 

It hollows out democracy not through dramatic collapse, but through quiet tolerance.

Dr. Richards speaks of the rule of law. He is correct. But the rule of law is not upheld by commentary—it is upheld by confrontation.

Region Ten does not need another well-crafted statement. It needs decisive action. It needs its representatives to move beyond diagnosis and into enforcement. It needs leadership that understands that governance is not defended by words alone.

Because in the end, the most troubling question is no longer whether the law is being broken.

It is why those who know it is being broken are still choosing to do nothing about it.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 592 𝙂𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙂𝙪𝙮𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙘, 𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙨.