THE year 2025 commenced on a high note of optimism. This optimism is rooted in a number of factors, which, when taken together, will result in monumental changes that undoubtedly will take this country to higher levels of progress and prosperity.
In all of this, history is a useful guide. The ruling party, in collaboration with its Civic component, has been in power for twenty-eight years since the restoration of democratic rule on October 5, 1992. This period, incidentally coincided with the 28 years of PNC authoritarian rule, which spanned the 1964-1968 period.

As is popular knowledge, the PNC, under the leadership of both Forbes Burnham and Desmond Hoyte, rigged its way to power from 1968 all the way to October 1992, when democracy was finally returned to Guyana.
That democratic struggle was led by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), which this month observed its 75th year as a political party. The party was formed on January 1, 1950, under the leadership of Dr. Cheddi Jagan, who had the distinction of becoming the first democratically-elected Executive President of Guyana when the country returned to the fold of democratic nations.

It speaks to the fighting nature of the PPP that it remained the largest and most organised political party in the country after seventy-five years of its formation. The PPP has the unique distinction of having won all national elections since 1953, when the then colony experienced its first elections under the system of universal adult suffrage.

The Party was manipulated out of power in 1964, due to an imposed system of Proportional Representation (PR), which saw the formation of a PNC-UF coalition government. All subsequent elections were blatantly and massively rigged by the PNC regime until October 1992 when democracy was finally restored to the country.
During its 75 years in existence as a political party, the PPP stood like the rock of Gibraltar, defending the rights and interests of the Guyanese people, first against the colonial and neo-colonial rule, and, following the granting of independence status on May 26, 1966, against PNC dictatorial rule.
Unlike other political parties that have over the decades fallen by the wayside, the PPP has literally weathered the storms, and has emerged triumphantly as the dominant political force in the country.

The footprints of the PPP are indelibly written in the annals of our history and our political landscape. It was the PPP that led the struggle for universal adult suffrage; it was the PPP that was in the forefront of the struggle for national independence; it was the PPP that championed the cause of a democratic Guyana, after the right to vote was stolen from the Guyanese people by the PNC regime.

And no less significant, it was the PPP that provided visionary leadership over the several decades that has resulted in a modern rules-based society in which all Guyanese, regardless of race or party affiliation, are provided with an opportunity to realise their dreams to the full extent of their potential.
As we observe this historic milestone in the political life of the PPP, Guyanese can be assured that the future of Guyana is secure under the tried and tested hands of the PPP and its leaders.

As noted by PPP General Secretary Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, when we tell the PPP story, we have to also tell the story of bad governance and rigged elections inflicted on this nation by the PNC. The PPP, he said, is on the right side of history, and will no doubt continue to provide visionary leadership to this country down the corridors of time.