REMINISCING on a fateful day, on 6th March 1997 – 14 years ago, when the Guyanese nation was plunged into deep mourning at the death of its iconic leader and President, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, General-Secretary of the PPP, Mr. Donald Ramotar, who has been described as having kept the party’s flag flying high and the Jagans trust resolute over the years, despite constraints and tribulations, said that, even as a sleepless nation mourned the loss of their beloved Dr. Cheddi, the swearing-in that same night of Samuel Hinds as President of the Republic of Guyana marked the post-Jagan period of leadership in Guyana.
Exhibiting great angst, he alluded to the continuum of lies being peddled by opposition elements about this nation’s greatest and most beloved son and leader and professed that most of the greatest men on earth had been subjected to such campaigns of hatred and vilification by protagonists whose agenda is to destroy their great legacies of achievement that have catalysed positive changes in the lives of individuals and in the existence of nations. He portrayed the authors of the lies as “bankrupt (of values)” and described as “unethical and immoral” the misinformation currently being peddled about Dr. Jagan by persons who could not confront him in a debate during his lifetime, especially now that he is no longer around to rebut their untruthful assertions.
He urged the nation not to forget that Dr. Cheddi was among the first Guyanese who fought to restore dignity to the people of Guyana.
Speaking of Guyana’s colonized era, Ramotar recalled that the British system then predisposed to dominance of the Guyanese mentality by, as an example, teaching them to sing in schools, “Rule, Britannia, rule.”
He opined that Bob Marley captured the spirit of Cheddi Jagan when he sang “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery”, because Cheddi Jagan’s first task that he undertook for the Guyanese nation was to help the people to believe in themselves and in their ability to manage their own destinies: also to understand the concept of freedom and to crave it enough to embark on a relentless struggle toward this eventuality.
Asserting that Dr. Jagan first made the people conscious of their oppression by their oppressors, which began the long march to freedom in this country, Ramotar contended that the transformational changes in the country since the PPP/C assumed office are invaluable and immeasurable.
He described Dr. Jagan as one of the most outstanding freedom fighters of all times and described as “Namak haram” (ungrateful) the PPP protégée who criticized Dr. Jagan for offering “critical support” to the PNC in a bid to unite the nation, but whom has now joined the PNC – the party he once reviled in the bitterest terms, because he now has ambitions of leadership within that party.
Dr. Cheddi Jagan’s primary agenda, emphasized Ramotar, was to free the Guyanese nation – first from the colonials, then from the dictatorship. The PPP General-Secretary stressed “He gave clear leadership. He gave responsible leadership. He gave direction during the most difficult of times. He worked hard and consistently to build racial and national unity across our country, and to win back the freedom that was snatched away from us – the essence of independence that was taken away from us in 1966.”
Referring to the pretenders who are claiming to be confidantes of Dr. Jagan when he was alive, Ramotar claims that they instead used to vociferously oppose his policies and attack him, but are now using a pretended familiarity as a ploy to destabilize the PPP and to push their own nefarious agendas.
He explained that emerging trends and challenges may cause the government’s programmes and development initiatives to sometimes slightly meander away from prior determinations, but assured that, although at times the party did not confine itself to the road that Dr. Jagan had charted, he was himself opposed to dogmatism and would have applauded the innovative choices made by the current leadership in its national development trajectory, once the party and government adhered to the general guiding principles that he had created for national reconstruction and growth.
Ramotar stressed that the party’s continuum of efforts in the nation is geared toward ending poverty, unemployment, to facilitate wealth-creational opportunities in a environment of equity, and to bring unity and peace in the land. He asserted “Those things are written in records and cannot be denied.
“And throughout his lifetime Cheddi Jagan fought for those things – national things, but also specific things, for the poor… for the working people.  He never deviated from that path. He fought for general things for the nation, but also fought specifically for those who are less fortunate, and who are sometimes not in a position to help themselves. That is why today he is still remembered in every home as a champion of the poor – all over Guyana, and even further afield.”
He itemized some of the ways that the party is exemplifying and following in the footsteps of Cheddi Jagan and cited the Budget as a gauge, stating that some of the country’s biggest expenses are on things that benefit the ordinary Guyanese people the most, and claimed that the distribution of the nation’s wealth is balanced in favour of the ordinary man.
Ramotar highlighted some of Governments achievements and detailed the great improvements in the major sectors, especially where children are beneficiaries – mainly in the education sector, where children from hinterland areas are now practically on par with educational opportunities being afforded to children from the coastland.
“We have spent billions of dollars to ensure that we have, not only an educated population, but also a healthy population.”
He claimed that it is because of the improved overall circumstances that Guyanese are now enjoying that their life expectancy has increased from prior to 1992.
“In other words, we have followed Cheddi Jagan in understanding that we do not build the economy for the sake of building the economy, (but) that we see the economy as (a tool) serving our people….and I stand here proudly to be part of this PPP/Civic, and the team of the PPP/Civic in bringing this about in our country today.”