Today marks a very significant date in the history of this country as it was 17 years ago on this date the first democratically government was elected ending a terrible dictatorship which lasted 28 years and brought this country to its knees.

It was a breath of fresh air to have democracy restored and President Cheddi Jagan created history by being probably the only political leader in the world to have regained political power after being in the opposition for 28 years. In fact, many had long written him off, saying that he would never be able to be back in government. But he defied all odds and proved the pessimists wrong through his indomitable will, patience, persistence, determination and courage for which he was renowned.

However, getting there was not an easy road because as the dictatorial regime became increasingly unpopular it became more and more authoritarian and vicious, as political opponents were hounded down, harassed and even killed.

Perhaps we came to the crossroads during the 1973 election when the army virtually took over the election and were given orders to shoot to kill by the then Prime Minister and during the elections two activists of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Jagan Ramessar and Bholanauth Parmanand were killed in Berbice when they attempted to prevent the army from hijacking ballot boxes. This election gave the ruling party a phony two-thirds majority it said it would get because of a break through into PPP traditional strongholds. Instead the opposition dubbed it a break through of the ballot boxes! The previous election in 1968 was rigged but on that occasion the army was not visibly involved.

From thereon it was clear that the regime was bent on maintaining itself in power by rigging elections. By 1978 when the next election was due the regime opted to postpone elections to hold a referendum on the so-called new constitution which in reality was essentially to make room for an executive President.

The opposition political forces boycotted the referendum because they knew it would be rigged as the regime did not agree to any reform of the electoral system and as expected the ruling party got over 95% of the votes. The next general election was held in 1980 and as anticipated was heavily rigged.

Up to the mid-1970s the PPP was virtually the lone opposition party however, with the formation of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) led by the great historian and political fighter, Dr. Walter Rodney the momentum in the struggle against the dictatorship picked up as the two parties work closely together and this inspired many who used to sit on the political fence to join the struggle.

By then the regime became more vicious under its new “principle” of the “steel is sharper” and in addition to the security forces, the religious sect the House of Israel led by a criminal fugitive from the US was used to unleash violence on political opposition.

Eventually, Father Darke of the Catholic Standard newspaper and Dr. Walter Rodney were killed in one of the very dark periods in our political history.

By 1985 when the next election was due, there was a dramatic turn of events. President Burnham suddenly died on August 6 and Mr. Desmond Hoyte took over the leadership of the then ruling party as well as the presidency. It was rumoured for a while that he may be a bit more accommodating and agree to some electoral reforms, the key ones having a clean electoral list and counting of the ballots at the place of poll. However, this was not to be and this election was rigged even more heavily than under his predecessor.

By this time the economy was in tatters and infrastructure, the health care and education systems were all in a precarious state and we were now rivaling Haiti for spot of the poorest nation in the hemisphere. And the momentum for free and fair elections picked up again joined by overseas based Guyanese groups in North America and Europe, but particularly in the former.

The PPP employed the services of American Paul Reichler law firm to lobby U.S Congressmen, including the late Senator Edward Kennedy, to get the US government to pressure the regime to have free and fair elections and these efforts were successful.

The U.S government eventually froze aid and forced the regime to hold free and fair elections and the Carter Centre led by former US President Jimmy Carter became directly involved n facilitating the process of free and fair elections. But the election due in 1990 was postponed to 1992 because of a flawed electoral list. However, there was one major sticking point still to be resolved-counting ballots at the place of poll which according to then President Mr. Desmond Hoyte would be “a logistical nightmare.” Nevertheless, a visit by President Carter resulted in Mr. Hoyte being persuaded to agree to the counting of ballots at the place of poll and this marked the turning point in our electoral history.

But the PNC did make a last ditch effort to derail the electoral process as it unleashed its thugs. Pressure from the American government eventually helped bringing the situation to normalcy.

And so on this date in 1992, the PPP was returned to government in the first free and fair elections after 28 years.

Unfortunately, President Jagan died before he even completed his first term, but his successors have been working persistently to rebuild and transform the landscape of this country which of course is a herculean task.

Of course since 1992 much has been achieved but undoubtedly there is still so much to be done.