POWER is all the PNC cares about.  The welfare of the Guyanese People is not important to them!!  In 5 years Guyana will again be reduced to FILTH!!!!

In 5 years Guyana will be worse than Haiti.

With 100 days approaching, the PNC regime is failing on all campaign promises to  the Guyanese people. I wouldn't trust my life on them for any major changes that will be beneficial for the nation's good.

Furst sensible post from the devil.  But how will they achieve the furst 3 pints?  Wha yuh mean by this “Presidency elected indirectly by the people post-national elections” …what is indirectly?

 

Reasonable last paragraph.  There has to be separation of powers, however, where the new house cannot pass a no confidence vote on the sitting president as is possible today.

The best possible scenario for Constitutional reform should encompass the following:

 

1. An Executive Presidency with powers comparable to the U.S. Presidency prior to the Imperial Presidency we have now. We currently have the Governor with all the reserve powers of the Queen to trample on any opponent anywhere in the system like the power to prorogue the Legislature. Said President should be nominated by party primary and elected by not less than a 51% majority. Runoffs if necessary.

 

2. The Cabinet. Ministers should be exclusively in the Executive branch and should not sit in Parliament. They are creatures of the President and should be banished from Parliament for the very reason.

 

3. The Prime Minister. There should be no Prime Minister. One VP should be good enough for purposes of Succession.

 

4. Parliament. Parliament should be divided into two chambers. A lower House fully elected by fairly drawn districts taking into account geography and race to create as many marginal seats as possible. Also, 65 MPs for 750,000 is waaaaay too much. 39 as in Trinidad (with almost twice Guyana's population) is reasonable.

 

5. Senate. The Senate should be the real deal in being our true House of Peers. 20 co-equal Members seems adequate. And it should have equal power with the Lower popularly elected House. However, the Senate should have extraordinary powers much like the U.S. Senate. But unlike the U.S. Senate it should not be fashioned to be of the people but like the Roman Senate and the House of Lords, it should be FOR the people. It should be able to face down political parties and check their destructive tendencies. It should be composed of our gray eminences. Men and women who are old but not senile. Accomplished and of good public reputation. Perhaps even lifetime tenure. A place where we can harness men such as Eusi Kwayana. Men who can be trusted as patriots and are not tribal hustlers or on the make. The problem here is in the method of selection to prevent the place from becoming a place for party hacks and/or a second Lower House. Perhaps some novel requirements such as a college education and a real non-political career. The problem here lies in how to achieve this without election and through nomination for merit and sagacity while shielding the process from being tainted by party politics.

 

6. A Strong Constitutional Court with lifetime tenure.

 

I know we can never have meaningful reform because the process and results are in the hands of those least likely to produce a system not favored to themselves....party politicians. The bane of every political system is party politics. They just are not going to do anything to diminish themselves.

You have pretty much describe the US system except for the appointed Senate.  In a perfect world your arguments might be feasible.  However, Guyana is far from perfect; maybe imperfect is the best word to describe Guyana.

You know what goes on in the USA about this: A lower House fully elected by fairly drawn districts.  Even in the USA those districts are drawn to favor the party in power at the time the districts are drawn/redrawn.  Imagine what will happen in Guyana.  I think they will have to go with current LDC boundaries or something less prone to political manipulation.

I am not sure how you will come up with your appointed Senate.  Why not have the Senate appointed at the RDC levels…maybe 2 from each RDC.

I don’t think a small country need a dedicated Constitutional Court.  Guyana Supreme Court with recourse to the Caribbean court of justice should be sufficient.