Power Is a Public Trust, Not Private Property

592 GUARDIAN♦ACCOUNTABILITY♦INTEGRITY IN JOURNALISM♦GUYANA

Power Is a Public Trust, Not Private Property

OPINION BY: Hem Kumar October 2026

“It is the responsibility of all citizens to acquire the civic and political education that allows us to participate with our opinion and our responsible vote, as well as to evaluate, accept or reject those who aspire to power. Political power is the ability of a person, group, or institution to direct, influence, or condition the behavior, decisions, and will of the members of a society, primarily through the structures of the State.” Power is a commission, that is to say: “An entrusted task, a delegated mission, or a position of responsibility held on behalf of others. It is the act and effect of placing something or someone under the care of another person, or the specific thing or task that is entrusted.”

Jose Marti, the Apostle of Freedom, tells us: “Government is a popular mandate: it is given by the people: it must be exercised to their satisfaction: their will must be consulted, their aspirations followed, their voice in need heard, and the power received must never be turned against the trusting hands that gave it to us, and which are its sole owners.”

Recent events in Guyana and elsewhere should compel us to think more seriously about power: what it is, where it comes from, whom it belongs to, and how those who wield it ought to use it.

Power appears in many forms. It may be political, economic, religious, institutional, media-related, professional, or social. At its core, power is the capacity to command, influence, direct decisions, shape public opinion, or control resources that affect other people’s lives.

Political power is especially consequential because it carries the authority of the State: the ability to make laws, spend public money, award contracts, distribute national resources, deploy public institutions, and make decisions that can either expand or restrict the life chances of citizens.

In a country such as Guyana—now endowed with unprecedented oil wealth and confronted by far-reaching choices about development, inequality, land, environment, public services, and national unity—the question of power cannot be treated casually. The stakes are too high.

Yet much of our political conversation remains reactive. We respond to the latest controversy, accusation, press conference, procurement dispute, social-media confrontation, or electoral maneuver.We debate who said what, who offended whom, and which party scored the latest political point. Far less attention is given to the enduring civic principles by which citizens should assess every government, every opposition party, every public official, every political candidate, and every person or institution seeking influence over the country’s future.

Three principles deserve renewed public attention: democratic power must be a mandate, it must be obedient to that mandate, and it must be exercised as service.

Power Is a Mandate

In a democracy, political power does not belong to the officeholder, political party, Cabinet minister, President, Member of Parliament, councilor, or any influential group around them. It belongs to the people.

Those who enter office do so because citizens have entrusted them, through elections and constitutional procedures, with a limited authority to act on the public’s behalf. They are not owners of the State. They are temporary custodians of authority that originates with the people.

That distinction is fundamental.

A government elected with a substantial mandate does not receive a blank cheque. An electoral victory grants authority to govern, but it does not erase the people’s right to question, criticize, demand information, challenge decisions, organize peacefully, or insist that public resources be managed honestly and transparently.

The national treasury is not party property. Oil revenues are not the inheritance of a small political class. State lands, forests, rivers, mineral resources, contracts, public offices, and national institutions do not belong to whichever group currently holds office. They belong, in trust, to the people of Guyana—including those who voted for the government, those who did not, and generations yet unborn.

This is particularly important in an oil-producing society. Resource wealth can strengthen democracy when it is managed openly, prudently, equitably, and with long-term national interests in mind. But it can also concentrate power, reward political loyalty, weaken oversight, and create a culture in which citizens are expected to be grateful rather than entitled to accountability.

Guyana must reject that culture. Citizens are not petitioners before political benefactors. They are the sovereign source of democratic authority.

Power Must Obey the People

The second test of democratic power is obedience—not blind obedience by citizens to officeholders, but obedience by officeholders to the constitutional order, the law, their electoral commitments, and the people from whom their authority is derived.

A government should be judged not merely by its promises, but by whether it governs in a manner consistent with the mandate it sought.

♦ Did it honor the commitments on which it asked for public support?

♦Did it use transparent and lawful processes? ♦Did it consult meaningfully on matters of major national consequence?

♦Did it respect the independence of oversight bodies?

♦Did it provide timely and credible information?

♦Did it tolerate criticism, including uncomfortable criticism?

♦Did it treat dissent as a democratic right rather than an act of hostility?

These questions should not be asked only of governments. They must also be asked of opposition parties, aspirants for office, civil-society leaders, trade unions, religious organizations, business interests, and media institutions.

Those who demand transparency while in opposition must be prepared to practice it when in government. Those who condemn executive overreach today must not seek identical powers tomorrow. Those who invoke democracy only when it advances their partisan interest do not strengthen democracy; they weaken public trust in it.

The discipline of democracy requires consistency.

No elected official should regard a five-year term as a period during which citizens must simply wait, remain silent, and accept every decision made in their name. Elections matter enormously, but democracy does not exist only on polling day. It lives in the period between elections: in public access to information, parliamentary scrutiny, independent journalism, civic participation, lawful protest, free expression, impartial institutions, and public accountability.

An official who cannot accept scrutiny has misunderstood the office. A government that fears questions may be tempted to avoid answers. And a society that abandons its responsibility to question power will eventually find itself governed without meaningful consent.

Power Must Be Service

The third and perhaps clearest measure of power is service.

Public office exists to serve the common good, not to enrich officeholders, reward friends, intimidate critics, construct patronage networks, or protect privileged interests. A public servant who uses office for personal advantage betrays the trust placed in him or her. A political leader who sees citizens primarily as votes, ethnic blocs, supporters, or opponents has already diminished the meaning of democratic representation.

The question Guyanese must ask of all who seek office is simple: do they live off politics, or do they live to serve through politics?

That question cannot be answered by campaign slogans, carefully produced advertisements, party colors, grand speeches, or social-media messaging. It must be answered by conduct: a record of sacrifice, integrity, competence, openness, respect for others, and commitment to the public interest even when doing so carries political cost.

Service is visible in practical choices. It is visible in whether roads, schools, hospitals, drainage systems, housing programs, employment opportunities, and public services reach citizens fairly. It is visible in whether public contracts are administered transparently. It is visible in whether communities are heard before decisions are imposed upon them. It is visible in whether the poor, vulnerable, remote, and politically unconnected receive equal concern.

Service also means safeguarding the future. Guyana’s leaders must not spend national wealth as though it has no end, nor make decisions that leave future generations with debt, environmental damage, distorted institutions, and missed opportunities. The country’s wealth must be converted into durable public value: educated citizens, reliable health care, resilient infrastructure, diversified industries, protected ecosystems, capable institutions, and a society in which every Guyanese can live with dignity.

A Duty for Citizens and Media

Democracy cannot survive on the virtue of leaders alone. It requires citizens who understand that their role does not end after casting a ballot.

Every Guyanese has a responsibility to acquire civic and political knowledge; to distinguish fact from propaganda; to read national budgets, policies, audit reports, laws, and public statements; to support independent journalism; to ask difficult questions; and to judge political actors by the same standards, regardless of party affiliation or ethnicity

.This is where Guyana’s media, civil society, professional bodies, religious institutions, educators, and community organizations have a special responsibility. Too much of public discourse is reactive. It follows the daily political quarrel, repeats official claims and partisan rebuttals, then moves on before the underlying issue has been examined.

We need more than reaction. We need civic education.

We need regular public discussion about the Constitution, the role of Parliament, the responsibilities of ministers, the limits of executive authority, procurement rules, the management of oil revenues, local-government powers, conflict-of-interest standards, access to information, the rights of citizens, and the duties of public institutions.

A society that does not understand how power is supposed to work will struggle to recognize when it is being abused.

The Standard We Must Apply

The standard should be clear and non-negotiable: legitimate democratic power is entrusted by the people, obedient to the people’s lawful mandate, and exercised in service of the people.

It does not belong to a party. It does not belong to a family, an ethnic group, a business network, a government minister, or a favored circle of advisers. It cannot be used as a weapon against citizens who think differently, vote differently, or demand answers

.Guyana is at a defining point in its history. Oil wealth has increased the country’s possibilities, but it has also increased the danger that political power may become more concentrated, more insulated, and less accountable. The response cannot be cynicism or withdrawal. It must be a more informed, vigilant, and principled citizenship.

The real test of those who seek power is not how loudly they speak about democracy when they are outside office. It is whether, once entrusted with authority, they remember that the power was never theirs to keep. It was borrowed from the people—and it must always be used in their service.