TODAY, we observe and celebrate 55 years as an Independent nation. We can be proud that we have matured and come a long way, although we still have some political and social challenges that confront us. But as we observe and celebrate this historic occasion, we should reflect on one of the major lessons we should have learnt as an independent nation, and that is: Independence does not automatically bring peace, progress and prosperity. In fact, it brings new challenges and responsibilities, and success as a nation would come, depending upon how well we navigate the course of these challenges and responsibilities. In our case, while we have achieved much, we could have achieved much more, hadn’t it been for two most unfortunate periods in our political history: One prior to Independence, and one beginning just a few years after Independence.
Our Independence struggle was a long and hard one, initiated by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) led by the indomitable Dr. Cheddi Jagan.
On his return from dental studies in the USA in 1946, and inspired and motivated by India’s epic Independence struggle, Dr. Jagan immediately began getting involved in the national political, economic and social issues and challenges.

This eventually led to the formation of the PPP in January 1950, which set out its main goals as achieving Universal Adult Suffrage, Independence and economic and social progress.
The PPP was also joined by the charismatic L.F.S Burnham on his return from law studies in England, and together, and along with many other political leaders, they were able to galvanise a strong nationalist anti-colonial movement, and wage the struggle for Guyana’s Independence.
A major victory was achieved in 1953 with the winning of Universal Adult Suffrage, and the subsequent massive win for the PPP at the first election held under this system.
However, this victory was accompanied by a major setback, which perhaps was the major determinant of the political future of our country.  After only 133 days in office, the British Government suspended the Constitution, and sent in troops to remove the Government under the pretext of the Cold War Communism bogeyman.
Unfortunately, during this same period, opportunism and lust for power raised its ugly head among some political leaders, and this led to a split in the PPP and the nationalist movement, and, worse yet, this split was along ethnic lines. Eventually, the PPP was split into two factions, one led by Dr. Jagan, and the other by Burnham. After desperate attempts by Dr. Jagan to reunite, the two factions failed, and the Burnham-led faction eventually became the People’s National Congress (PNC).

Subsequent elections in 1957 and 1961 resulted in massive victories for the PPP, and this led to machinations by foreign powers, in collaboration with the local lackeys and power-hungry associates, to destabilise and remove the PPP Government. This saw a campaign of violence and terror against the PPP and its supporters being unleashed from 1962 to 1964.
This period also saw the formation of another political party, the United Force (UF), which was hostile to the PPP.
At the 1964 election, the PPP won with 46.4 per cent of the votes, failing to gain an overall majority, but yet the PNC and UF were asked by the British to form the Government. On May 26, 1966, Independence was granted to Guyana, and the first Prime Minister became L.F.S Burnham.
In the post-independence period, the first election was held in 1968, and this began the era of rigged elections, which lasted until 1992, which saw the return of free and fair elections and restoration of democracy after an epic struggle led by the PPP, and later joined by other political forces.
These two unfortunate periods in our political history denied this country a chance to fully unleash our human and natural resources potential for socio-economic development and prosperity. But we are still young as a nation, and with a democratically-elected Government in place, and a series of discovery of oil here, the future ahead is bright. With visionary leadership, political cooperation, and patriotic fervour, we could still achieve that burning desire of building a country of peace, progress and prosperity.