Guyana’s profile as a significant player on the international stage was given a boost with the emergence of the country as an oil-producing nation. With Guyana set to be among the highest per capita oil producers in the near future, the country has been attracting much attention not only from investors, but also from the global community as a whole.

Interest in Guyana, however, long predated oil. Ever since the country attained internal self-government and with the rise of nationalist leaders, attention was focused on the political and ideological orientation of the PPP government which created history by sweeping the polls in the elections of 1953, the first to be held under universal adult suffrage.

The PPP regime, a mere six months later, was overthrown from office after the British government felt uncomfortable with the leftist orientation of the PPP. The Constitution was suspended and the PPP under the leadership of the charismatic Dr Cheddi Jagan, was forcibly removed from office.

The suspension of the Constitution catapulted the then colony into the international spotlight as it represented one of the few countries in the hemisphere where a left-wing political party had won political power through constitutional means.

Attention in the country was again high after the PNC regime took office in 1964 through, what was described by former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson ‘as a fiddled constitutional arrangement,’ one unknown in the entire British Commonwealth.

The British Government took a decision to change the electoral laws to allow for a change from first past the post to proportional representation, which allowed for two or more political parties to form a coalition government.

The PNC and the UF joined forces to remove the PPP from government in 1964 and under the leadership of Forbes Burnham, the PNC regime began a process of rigged elections which lasted until 1985.  Under pressure from the Carter Centre, the Hoyte administration agreed to hold free and fair elections after nearly three decades of undemocratic rule.

Guyana, during that period, was under close observation by the international community, albeit in a negative way as many countries and international institutions refused to do business with the country. Guyana at one time was considered a ‘pariah’ state with the IMF describing the PNC administration as “uncreditworthy.”

And not to be ignored was the outpouring of condemnation by the international community after the APNU+AFC once again attempted to steal the March 2020 elections. The bogus results were eventually overturned, thanks to the intervention of the courts and the international community, and Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali was sworn in as the duly elected President of Guyana.

Guyana under the leadership of President Ali has regained its rightful place as a democracy in the global community of nations and is today a key player in international relations, both at the regional and international levels.

Under the dynamic and energetic leadership of President Ali, Guyana is once again winning the respect of the international community. The country may be relatively small in size, but certainly large in terms of visionary thinking and ideas on how to advance the cause of humanity.