Walton-Desir Questions What “Taking Government to the People” Says About Guyana’s Institutions
By Marvin Cato | HGP Nightly News|
GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — If government has to be taken to the people, what does that say about the institutions that are supposed to serve them every day?
That was the question posed by Member of Parliament and Forward Guyana Movement leader Amanza Walton-Desir as she reflected on the Government’s recent outreach exercise across Region Seven, during which critical government services were taken directly to communities in the Cuyuni-Mazaruni region.
The Argument
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Walton-Desir said she paused to examine what the outreach initiative actually implies about how Guyana’s democratic institutions are functioning.
She acknowledged that the initiative sounds well-intentioned on its face.
“The phrase is good politically,” she said. “But when you sit down and unpack it — it is not a cabinet outreach exercise.”
Walton-Desir argued that government, properly understood, is a system of institutions — and that in a functioning democracy, citizens should already have access to government through those institutions every day, without ministers having to travel to communities to hear their concerns.
“The modern state must ensure citizens don’t have to approach a minister personally before they’re able to have their concerns heard,” she said.
She said citizens should have access to government through Parliament, local democratic organs, Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs), Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs), public consultations, the media, and the courts.
“Government is not supposed to be a traveling road show,” she said.
The Deeper Concern
Walton-Desir said what concerns her about the outreach framing is the governance philosophy it reveals.
“It reflects a very paternalistic view of what government is,” she said. “It suggests that government is something separate from the people — and that access to the citizenry depends on ministers descending on their community to hear their concerns.”
She argued that if Guyana’s democratic institutions were functioning as they should, government would be with the people every day — not through periodic outreach exercises, but through permanently accessible, accountable, and responsive systems.
“In a democracy, government belongs to the people. Government is for the people and it should be by the people,” she said. “The focus should be on ensuring that institutions work and that government remains accessible, accountable, and responsive to the people. That is what government is.”
The President’s Stated Plans
Walton-Desir also noted that President Irfaan Ali, during an earlier outreach visit to Regions Five and Six, indicated his intention to take government services to every administrative region in Guyana. She did not dispute that the outreach delivers tangible services to communities in the short term — her argument is about what the need for such outreaches implies about the underlying institutional framework.
The Government had not issued a public response to Walton-Desir’s analysis at the time of publication.
