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Emerging Democracies Forum
Managing the Twin Transitions
Closing Plenaries
(8 of 25 pages)
We are especially grateful to the sponsors of this forum: the government of Yemen
and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in partnership with United Nations Development
Program, the governments of Japan, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States of America, and the many other
agencies including the Canadian International Development Agency and the World Bank. Your sponsorship, coupled
with the success you have achieved in building the institutions and culture of democracy of your own countries,
added to your presence here, and the encouragement and assistance you have given to us 17 emerging democracies
constitute what we consider to be a demonstration of solidarity and the existence of a mutual support system among
practicing democrats around the world.
For us in Guyana we have become even more appreciative of the progress we have made in some areas, but at the same
time we have learned of mechanisms and vehicles we can use to develop other areas and to generally strengthen our
own system of democracy. This opportunity has given us delegates of Guyana who have come from different political
parties, labor and business, the chance to meet outside of our country and straighten our own relationships. And
this is an added plus or benefit from this forum.
Rest assured everyone here that the new relationships and networks we have been able to establish with other countries
will enable our learning process to continue in the years ahead. Permit us to say congratulations to the NDI International
Advisory Committee and the organizing secretariat for a job well done in organizing this forum. A special thank
for Jean Freidberg (ph), Director NDI Guyana, whose untiring efforts are helping us to truly strengthen the democratic
process in Guyana. She also gave every assistance and motivated us to attend this exciting and important forum.
We have learned some special lessons here today and I'm going to only name three of them, although they are numerous
to mention. We have learned that an established democracy is not merely a form of government but a political culture
in which the population takes for granted that conflicts of political interests will be settled by constitutional
means under rules which are accepted by all parties whether they win or lose at polls.
The next important lesson for us, that a fair democracy requires that each citizen have not just a vote but a voice.
Majority decision is not fair unless everyone has had a fair opportunity to express his or her attitudes or opinions
or fears or tastes or presumptions or prejudices or ideas, not just in the hope of influencing others, thought
that hope is crucially important, but also just to confirm his or her standing as responsible agents rather than
a passive victim of collective action.
The third lesson we learned was that civil society must play a role mediating between political parties and help
to avoid the procedural and other setbacks that have plagued the process for so long and often seem trivial to
outside observers. Civil society to our mind injects a rational, independent voice in the proceedings which can
help issues to be seen more clearly or in a different light, and can reduce the level of inter-party hostility
and distrust which tends to make even relatively simple problems quite hard to resolve.
Political parties are, in the final analysis, many representatives of different groups in the society and must
take into account and respond to the legitimate interests of civil organizations. They must not be guided solely
by their own perceived strategic and tactical requirements. [TAPE FLIP] … World Bank, and other great financial
institutions had a chance to hear from the 17 emerging democracies - their concerns and need for funding, and the
proper use of funds and the need for debt write off in the various territories. We are now confident that these
financial agencies can be assured that with decisive national and democratic and international cooperation as an
ethnical, social, political and economic imperative of human kind we can say with one voice that the poor need
not be always with us. May peace and good fortune attend our every effort and may the omnipotent guide and protect
all of us to return safely to our families and loved ones. Thank you.
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