Lewis Sounds Alarm Over State Power and Treatment of Opposition

By Mark DaCosta- Veteran trade unionist and General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), Lincoln Lewis, is warning that the treatment of Guyana’s parliamentary Opposition is raising increasingly serious questions about representative democracy, constitutional safeguards and the Government’s commitment to inclusionary governance.

Lewis told Village Voice News that the Government’s recent invitation for Opposition parliamentarians to meet President Irfaan Ali without prior consultation and a clearly established agenda was another troubling development in the relationship between the Executive and the Opposition.

He described the approach as a sign of what he considers contempt for the legislative arm of government and the constitutional obligation to practise inclusionary democracy.