Dear Editor,
FROM time immemorial, the politics of inclusion and broad representation has always triumphed over fear and intimidation. In Guyana’s context, our country is a classic case study.
In the years leading up to national independence following the Second World War, a multiracial group comprising Dr Cheddi Jagan, Janet Jagan, Ashton Chase and Jocelyn Hubbard established the Political Affairs Committee on November 6, 1946, to pursue representative politics and inclusive governance through universal adult suffrage.
With the advent of the People’s Progressive Party on January 1, 1950, as an established political force that consisted of a wide cross-section of Guyanese, the move towards peaceful agitation for independence and national identity began.
In the early 1950s, the PPP team and membership took root in practically every part of Guyana on a platform of transitioning our country from a dependent colony to an independent nation, where her peoples were free to live and prosper in unity and harmony.
That was short-lived, however, as a breakaway faction led by Forbes Burnham formed the PNC, in collusion and connivance with external forces that were unfriendly and unkind to the conviviality that existed under the diverse banner of the PPP.
Thereafter, the PNC embarked on a vicious campaign to derail the independence efforts of the PPP, which culminated in sordid violence against our Guyanese brothers and sisters around 1964.
After handed unelected authority in 1964 and an independent Guyana in 1966, the PNC began dismantling the institutions of national unity at break-neck speed.
A once peace-loving and ethnically diverse country was machinated into a desperate nation governed through fear and intimidation.
The result of such undemocratic rule saw the rise of a dictator, one-party rule and party paramountcy never before practised in the English-speaking Caribbean.
Tens of thousands of Guyanese were driven from the shores of our country, illegally and legally, as ethnic discrimination, political victimization, economic malaise, widespread ill -health, food shortages, national insecurity, endemic corruption and rigged elections became historic in Guyana.
After prolonged peaceful and non-violent struggles, the move from ethnic domination and unelected rule to democratic transition began in late 1992 upon the return of a broad-based multiracial, multi-religious, multicultural coalition of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic, led by Dr Cheddi Jagan and Prime Minister Samuel Hinds.
The transformation of our country into a national polity with sound governance structures once again prospered.
During the period 1993-2014, Guyana prospered immensely, rising to the top of the Caribbean economic index. Democracy was restored, good governance prospered, the economy grew, hope beckoned, poverty was reduced, jobs flourished, the constitution was respected and national institutions were fortified.
This all happened because the PPP is premised on multiracial, multicultural politics. The PPP is a unifying force.
The period from mid-2015 to mid-2020 during the rule of APNU+AFC, which was led by the PNC as the main and significant partner, Guyana’s excitement went into a tailspin as ethnic discrimination, racist policies, political vendettas, en vogue corruption, poverty, unconstitutional rule and national fear stalked our land.
Today, with President, Dr Irfaan Ali at the helm, after leading the PPP/C to victory at the 2020 elections, a new life was breathed into Guyana.
Our country is now the fastest-growing economy in the world, national pride has become entrenched, and world class investments are prospering, ethnic domination zeroed, and constitutional rule has been restored; jobs are bountiful and national harmony pervasive.
The platform of President Ali, One Guyana, is truly being realised because every Guyanese has a role and a space to function and contribute in an unfettered way.
We need to continue on this path and our country and her peoples will soar to unimaginable heights.
Guyanese must at all cost repel and rebuke racism, intolerance fear, bullyism and intimidation propagated by the APNU and its leaders.
Yours faithfully,
Nigel Dharamlall
Minister of Local Government and Regional Development
