THE ruling Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has remained true to the ideals and philosophy of its founder, the late former President Dr Cheddi Jagan, who remains a living guide for the party.

And party General-Secretary, Clement Rohee, made known the party’s amusement at the invocation of Dr. Jagan’s name in the ongoing 2014 Budget debates. He added that Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) should be “ashamed” to invoke Dr Jagan’s name given their party’s actions against Dr. Jagan.

Rohee said, “The PPP has noted, not without some amusement, a tendency by several Opposition Members of Parliament to invoke the name of the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan in their vain attempt to project the ruling PPP/C administration as ‘anti-working class’. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

HYPOCRITICAL
He called those references hypocritical, more particularly so those references made by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).
Rohee said, “They did everything imaginable to besmirch (Jagan’s) character and deny him and his party the right to political office through a series of rigged elections spanning nearly three decades….

“It was the PNC (People’s National Congress) that schemed with foreign vested interests and local reactionary forces to destabilise the democratically elected Jagan-led administration during the 1960s.

“Such was the extent of the hatred for Dr. Jagan that one former PNC leader, (late President) Desmond Hoyte pledged publicly to dedicate his entire life to ensure that Dr. Jagan does not become the President of Guyana.

“And when Dr. Jagan convincingly won the October 5, 1992 elections after 24 years of PNC dictatorial rule, Hoyte boasted to the nation that the new PPP/C regime could not survive a year in office, no doubt out of an awareness that the PPP/C (People’s Progressive Party/Civic) inherited a broken and debt-ridden economy in which over 90 percent of revenues were spent to service our debts.
“It must have been a lasting shame and humiliation to the PNC that the PPP/C Government did not only survive its full term in office, but went on to win all elections from that time until this day.”

According to Rohee, the fact that the ruling party has stayed true to the Jagan legacy and vision is reflected in the way all national budgets are being configured and aimed at placing emphasis on human development, particularly in the areas of education, health, housing and water, which are considered key determinants of a good quality of life.

Rohee said, “This is quite unlike what obtained under the PNC regime, when the budgetary allocations were highly skewed in favour of military/paramilitary organisations, the Foreign Service and the Office of the President.
“The social sectors, including health and education, were grossly underfunded, to a point where the delivery of education and health care had reached crisis proportions.”

ASHAMED
He reiterated that the combined Opposition ought to be ashamed to invoke the name and memory of the late Dr. Jagan, when “they are doing everything within their power to undo the work” of Dr. Jagan and the party he founded.

Rohee said, “This could be seen in the several actions taken by the combined Opposition to frustrate the development agenda of the PPP/C administration aimed at enhancing the quality of life of the Guyanese people, in particular the working people, for whom Dr. Jagan dedicated his entire political life.
“The refusal of the parliamentary Opposition parties to approve money for cheap energy for the people of Guyana and to fuel the growth trajectory of the economy goes against the grain of the Jagan dream for Guyana. The same is true of Opposition cuts to funds earmarked for Amerindian development, which he was very passionate about.

“The failure of the Opposition parties to approve of funds to restore the viability of the sugar industry would have been particularly painful to Dr. Jagan, who, way back in the 1940s, following the massacre of the five sugar workers, pledged to dedicate his entire life to the cause of the working people.”

Rohee opined that those who contend that the ruling party has departed from the Jagan legacy are either “unable to understand the context and dialectics of present day realities, or are being deliberately dishonest”, politically and intellectually.

“To speak at a superficial level of the greatness of Dr. Jagan but at the same time doing everything to undermine his party and legacy is the worst harm that anyone could inflict on this great son of the soil and outstanding leader of Guyana,” he stressed.

On that note, the PPP called on the Opposition parties and other opposition elements to desist from invoking the name of Dr. Jagan for “opportunistic” purposes, and instead lend their support in tangible ways to realise his vision for a peaceful, progressive and prosperous Guyana.

“Action, it is said, speaks louder than words,” Rohee said.

(By Vanessa Narine)