The Party becomes the Government and the Government becomes the Party Aug 23, 2025 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom Kaieteur News – There are two types of countries in the world. There are those where you can tell the difference between the government and the ruling party, and those where you can’t. In Guyana, the lines are blurred. The Carter Center, in its saintly role as democracy’s hall monitor, recently wagged its finger at the PPPC for misusing state resources in its campaign. The examples are many. Government vehicles ferrying party officials to rallies. Workers on the state payroll allegedly being drafted into heckling Opposition supporters (because apparently heckling is now a civil service duty. And the pièce de résistance: public servants moonlighting as candidates. But let’s be honest. Expecting the President to hop onto a minibus to his own rally would be absurd. Imagine him, squashed between a vendor with three chickens in a cardboard box and a man arguing with himself about the cost of eggs. And security? If he takes a special hire, should the police follow behind in their own yellow minibuses? No, of course the President must use state vehicles. That’s not misuse. That’s common sense. Donald Trump does not ditch his Secret Service convoy and protective services when campaigning. So why should the President, the Vice President of Ministers in Guyana? Where things get fishy is when these government vehicles start transporting not Presidents or Ministers, but Auntie from Canal Number Two who just wants to wave a flag and collect a free jersey. That’s not security. That’s Uber. The Carter Center also sniffed at the sight of people in party colours attending government events. You can’t exactly blame the Carter Center here. A school opening begins to look less like an educational milestone and more like a campaign rally. One minute, the Minister is cutting the ribbon; the next, he’s promising free internet for all and a bridge over every puddle. It’s the kind of thing that makes you wonder whether the government is really opening a school or opening a constituency office. The Carter Center mentioned the use of the blurring of the lines between party and government at these evcnts. But the PPPC does not give a hoots. The opening of the Tuschen Secondary School, one day after the Carter Center report, was swarmed by flag-raising PPPC supporters, showing that these supporters do not appreciate the need to avoid converting government events into partisan affairs. But the Carter Center missed the crown jewel of party-government blur: the weekly press conferences of the General Secretary of the PPPC. Imagine a party functionary using this platform to discuss national policy, crime statistics, and oil revenues. No wonder voters are confused. “Wait,” they ask, “is this the government, the party, or just an elaborate skit?” And then there’s Facebook. Once upon a time, the official page of the President might feature the occasional handshake with a diplomat or a photo of him frowning meaningfully at a pothole. Today? You’re just as likely to find campaign flyers, rally speeches, and reports and photographs of partisan cheerleading. The Office of the President has become less an institution of state and more a promotional page for upcoming events: “This Friday—live in Region Five! Don’t miss it!” Of course, none of this is new. The PPPC didn’t invent party-government fusion. Forbes Burnham practically wrote the manual. Remember the Declaration of Sophia, where he elevated the party above the government? Paramountcy, he called it. A word so Orwellian it could have been lifted straight from 1984. And then he went one step further: and made the party the government. The General Secretary’s Office was inside the Ministry of National Development which is like saying the referee gets to play striker. While paramountcy has long gone in name, Guyana has been living with this congenital defect ever since. The Carter Center also complained about pre-election giveaways: free bridge crossings, promotions of 2,800 police ranks and the usual sweetmeats. Th Carter Centre says this gives the ruling party an unfair advantage. Unfair? Hardly. This is the oldest trick in the incumbency playbook. Governments everywhere turn into Santa Claus around election time. The only difference is the Guyanese version doesn’t stop at toys. It throws in a bridge, a school, and a reduced electricity rates if you clap loudly enough. So, what’s really the problem? It isn’t the misuse of cars or the Facebook live-streams or even the party jerseys at school openings. The real issue is that the PPPC has inherited a political culture that doesn’t just blur the line between party and state; it erases it with the enthusiasm of a toddler finding the eraser end of a pencil for the first time. For them, the line is not a boundary; it’s a suggestion. And maybe the tragicomedy of Guyanese politics is that everyone pretends there’s a line, but nobody believes in it. The government pretends it governs; the party pretends it campaigns, and the people pretend they can tell the difference. In the end, we are left with a spectacle where the President is simultaneously Head of State, party campaigner, and social media influencer, while the Carter Center tries desperately to referee a game where the players keep switching jerseys. The question is not whether the lines are blurred. The question is whether there was ever a line at all. Or just a doodle Burnham sketched in Sophia one night, which successive governments have been smudging ever since. (The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.) Carter Center, Government, Guyana Elections, misusing state resources, PPPC