THE People’s National Congress Reform’s (PNCR) presidential candidate Mr. David Granger recently participated in an interview with Kaieteur News, details of which appeared in its Sunday, April 10, 2011 edition entitled ‘Profile of a Presidential Candidate’.
It would be irresponsible for me to attempt to refute Mr. Granger’s broad denial that “I don’t have blood on my hands; I was not there. I never killed anyone in my life,” or for me to sweepingly discredit any meritorious characteristics inherent of a worthy president that Mr. Granger may or may not possess.
However, it is equally irresponsible and perhaps even libelous for Mr. Granger to groundlessly place the blame for the deaths of three PPP supporters in Berbice during the 1973 elections solely and directly on the most beloved son of our nation, my grandfather, Dr. Cheddi Berret Jagan in charging “that it was Jagan who instructed PPP supporters to prevent the removal of ballot boxes from polling stations.”
Unfortunately, Mr. Granger neglects to take into account the totality of the circumstances; namely that these three unarmed individuals were fired upon by PNC regulated Armed Forces despite being permitted by the PNC to observe the handling of said ballot boxes.
Moreover, and for present purposes, given that it is known by anyone reasonably familiar with Guyanese politics that several illegitimate vote manipulation tactics were employed by the PNC during the 60s and 70s, it is regrettable that Mr. Granger broadly disavows any and all knowledge of such documented events. Mr. Granger, although you “are not ready to admit the elections…were rigged,” your unwillingness is unavailing and fails to negate the truth.

Guyana now stands at a major crossroad, for now more than ever, the youth of Guyana is in a position to permanently alter the course of this nation’s future. Realization of this however, can never come to fruit without ceasing to revert to the past. Undoubtedly, the past is always a lesson for the future. However, the lesson we must take from our past is simply to not continue to make our past mistakes in the future. African, Indian, Chinese, Portuguese and Amerindian Guyanese all share one underlying and immutable characteristic, ‘being Guyanese’. Let us embrace this fact and build towards our future together, as Guyanese, irrespective of race, colour, or ethnicity.

In response to Mr. Granger’s call for us to “look at the record,” I eagerly accept this invitation in an effort to provide Mr. Granger with the evidence he claims “I don’t have,” so that he may in good faith recognize, explicitly or implicitly, that the elections during the 60s and 70s were manipulated. The pertinent record here, as I justifiably believe it to be, consists of the U.S. State Department’s declassified documents on Guyana, released in early 2005, which can be located at: http://www.state.gov/m/a/ips/c22798.htm.
Looking strictly at this record, several facts glaringly evidencing electoral manipulation and vote rigging under the PNC in the 60s and 70s are particularly worth mentioning:
1.       The PNC planned to register all Guyanese of African ancestry in the U.K., Canada, and the U.S. in order to get their absentee votes in the elections. Furthermore, East Indians living abroad would have trouble getting registered and, if registered, getting ballots. (The 303 Committee’s Memorandum, March 17, 1967.)

2.       The PNC was exploring means to merge Guyana with one of the Caribbean islands so as to increase the proportion of African voters. Additionally, if the PNC became convinced that such would not suffice to preserve power, they would rig the election. (CIA Report prepared by the U.S. Departments of State and Defense and the National Security Agency, December 7, 1967.)

3.       The PNC stated that it planned to conduct registration and voting in such a manner that the PNC will emerge with an absolute majority in the Guyana National Assembly by registering 17, 18, 19 and 20 year old PNC adherents (minimum voting age is 21 years) to vote. (The 303 Committee’s Memorandum on a Progress Report on “Support to Anti-Jagan Political Parties in Guyana,” June 5, 1968.)

4.       The PNC gave instructions to rig the elections by strictly limiting the registration of East Indians, who traditionally vote for the PPP in order to keep their number of eligible voters as low as possible. The PNC also instructed its campaign organizers overseas to provide enough false registrations to give the PNC the desired majority. (Memorandum prepared by Thomas H. Karamessines for Walt W. Rostow, Special Assistant to President Johnson, “Plans of Guyana Prime Minister Forbes Burnham, Leader of the PNC to rig the elections scheduled for late 1968 or early 1969,” June 12, 1968.)

In the unlikely event that my reliance on the record as specifically defined above is considered misplaced, I point to several other credible sources, such as: (1) Stephen Rabe’s “U.S.
Intervention in British Guiana: A Cold War Story”; (2) Arthur Schlesinger’s “A Thousand Days:
John F. Kennedy in the White House”; and (3) Thomas J. Spinner’s “A Political and Social History of British Guiana”.
An exhaustive examination of these publications is unnecessary, for any casual review exposes one conspicuous fact—several illegitimate electoral manipulative tactics were utilized by the PNC in the 60s and 70s, which ultimately led to rigged election results.

As I briefly alluded to earlier, the specific intent of this article serves neither to criticize/detract from Mr. Granger’s capabilities as the PNCR’s presidential candidate, such as his stellar academic and military education, nor does it serve to in any way disparage or tarnish the prodigious image of President Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, who provided us with much of the institutional and structural framework upon which our nation is still largely dependent.

Rather, my narrowly tailored purpose herein was to adduce easily verifiable facts concerning the historical background of our nation’s elections.

Be that as it may, we as Guyanese must consciously and purposefully put an end to this continuous and petty discourse of diatribe—we didn’t rig the elections, yes you did, no we didn’t, yes you did, etc., etc., etc.—since it is counterproductive to all of the nation’s problems and
ultimately perpetuates the systematic racial imbalance and inequality that has plagued this nation since its inception.

Guyana now stands at a major crossroad, for now more than ever, the youth of Guyana is in a position to permanently alter the course of this nation’s future. Realization of this however, can never come to fruition without ceasing to revert to the past.

Undoubtedly, the past is always a lesson for the future, however, the lesson we must take from our past is simply to not continue to make our past mistakes in the future. African, Indian, Chinese, Portuguese and Amerindian Guyanese all share one underlying and immutable characteristic, “being Guyanese.”

Let us embrace this fact and build towards our future together, as Guyanese, irrespective of race, colour, or ethnicity.  (Cheddi Berret Jagan II, Esq. is the grandson of former Presidents Dr. Cheddi and Mrs. Janet Jagan.  He is currently a Legal Consultant at Office of the President in Georgetown, Guyana).