President Jagdeo lauds achievements of Jagans in Guyana’s freedom fight
Yesterday at Babu John, PPP General-Secretary Donald Ramotar, who preceded President Bharrat Jagdeo during the commemorative event marking 14 years since Guyana lost its greatest freedom fighter and leader, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, flayed the doomsayers and naysayers who perennially criticize the policies of the Government  and those whom he says work tirelessly to make Guyana a better place and to provide greater personal growth and national development – all in the spirit of Cheddi Jagan, said of a particular Berbician quack doctor, who never went to a medical school, but “…who prescribes urine as a cure for every sick(ness),…..what do you expect him to talk.  He talks —- You know what I mean.”
Like Ramotar, President Bharrat Jagdeo also lambasted the detractors who, according to the party GS “make wild allegations and wild attacks against our party.  Many of them never wrote a thesis and they call themselves academics.”
Both Ramotar and President Jagdeo ascribed the attacks by bitterly-opposing protagonists against the PPP as being the result of the new wave of freedom of expression afforded by the PPP/C government and deemed it ironic that the party has created windows for its enemies to launch attacks on it, but stressed that this is the vision of the Founder-Leader, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, who fought for and won freedom for the Guyanese people from all their oppressors.
“We continue to propagate the legacy of Dr. Cheddi Jagan, and that is why the PPP can never be defeated” stated Ramotar.
This claim was reiterated by President Bharrat Jagdeo, who said that, although this would be his last address at Babu John as President of Guyana, he is convinced that, come next  year,  another PPP/C president would be standing at that podium delivering the feature address.
“…a president that will continue the legacy of our party, and that legacy  is a legacy bloodied by struggle, by sweat, and (the) sacrifice of many people – some who are sitting here with us today – the older folks…when I walk through that crowd I see them.  Many of them are old today, but we stand on their shoulders – the shoulders of those who waged [the] struggle for freedom and dignity in this land – a struggle that did not start yesterday, (but) a struggle that started in the most horrific of eras in this country – the era of colonial rule, when people of our colour – people who were not white were seen as second-class citizens in their own country.
“And those who led us at that time – particularly Cheddi and Janet, struggled to change that, (and) to give young  Guyanese children (of every racial descent) the same dignity, and the right to opportunities  in this country that anyone else has.”
The President acknowledged that it has been a long struggle but that, although there is still a long way to go, the government and the PPP/C have had tremendous success in changing the various equations and restoring, and that “…we live in a land characterized by freedom – freedom of opportunities for all of us, largely because of the earlier struggles  that a few dedicated people waged, led by Cheddi and Janet Jagan.”
President Jagdeo noted that, if only for that, Dr. and Mrs. Jagan would be forever  indelibly  imprinted in the landscape and in the minds of the people of this country, who would forever be grateful to them for these freedoms.