THERE WAS a time in Guyana — pre-1992 — when the average Guyanese faced a starkly hopeless future. Real estate was owned by some entrepreneurial dynastic families through great sacrifices and astute investments; some descendants of slaves and indentured immigrants who had the foresight not to sell their ancestral patrimony to others for short-term gains; and the privileged elite who were gifted large acreages of State lands in return for loyalty to the administrative construct of the day.
But the average rank-and-file Guyanese masses had scant hope of ever owning their own homes, or of emerging out of poverty, especially with the PNC-led Economic Recovery Programme (ERP),which, among other inhibiting strictures to personal development, had frozen the wages of public servants at an approximate $2,000, while the toothless poodle that was the Public Service Union (PSU) then, and the TUC, remained inactive until Dr. Cheddi Jagan, post-elections of 1992, told the IMF where to shove their conditionalities, and restored bargaining power to trade unions.
The subsequent drive to reduce and/or altogether eliminate Guyana’s debt burden, and simultaneous developmental interventions was done through engagements at various fora — nationally, regionally, and internationally; but the Jagans had achieved their hearts’ objective and restored democracy; real freedom to Guyana and the Guyanese people, before being forced to succumb to their mortality.
However, they had charted the course of this nation’s future through the political infrastructure they had created, and they placed this machinery into the hands of someone they hand-picked.
Bharrat Jagdeo had the simple humility of the Jagans; but he also had the vision, the strength, the courage, and the commitment to chart the course of this nation forward as per the blueprint of the Father of the Nation; and he made no compromises to deliver to Guyana and the Guyanese people all that Dr. Cheddi Jagan had promised in the PPP/C manifestos, albeit with some detours along the way to fit new and emerging challenges.
As PPP General-Secretary and PPP/C presidential candidate, Mr. Donald Ramotar said at Babu John in March of this year, during commemorative observances for the Jagans, the PPP has never diverted from the course of progress charted by its founding leader, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, although some characteristics had been restructured and reformulated to address requisite changes in the administrative constructs, and implementation of programmes created in the original PPP blueprint of Guyana’s development paradigm.
The charge laid on the then very young and inexperienced shoulders of Bharrat Jagdeo by the patriarch and matriarch of the land has been executed, maybe even beyond their expectations.
It has not been an easy road, because his stewardship was severely constrained by violent protests which sent the private sector into hibernation because of the rioting, looting and wanton destruction to property (especially businesses), crime waves, volatile and inhibiting opposition factions (including hostile media), all of which have strong links to powerful lobby groups in international spheres, and which did not engage in constructive ways with the Government to advance the interests of the nation, but instead devised strategies intended to derail (and sometimes succeeding) Government’s thrust to rebuild all the destroyed and devastated dynamics of this nation.
Yet, as President Jagdeo approaches the end of his stewardship to the nation, he can stride with head high for a job magnificently done, despite the best attempts of his detractors and pessimists, all of whom are pursuing self-serving agendas.
The sad reality is that the destructive elements in this beautiful country continue to intentionally propagate hatred among the peoples of this land on the erroneous premise of discriminatory practices by the PPP/C administration against some communities, despite overwhelming and abundant evidence to the contrary.
However, most Guyanese across every divide, throughout the land, have got wiser, and are rejecting calls for division and strife, opting instead for peace that they know will lead to prosperity and a posterity of a promise fulfilled to the maximum of Guyana’s potential for greatness.
This is in part due to the fact that the President’s even-handed administration has been recognized by the people, who have now largely embarked on a course of putting the country (and their welfare) first, whereby everyone can eventually stand up and say with pride, “I am a Guyanese citizen,” and applaud the achievements of a President all their own who has guided this nation’s future toward prosperity, and brought glory and recognition to the Guyanese people – collectively.
In the words of Dave Martins, Guyana’s President Jagdeo and his remarkable achievements, which are being lauded at world fora “is we own.”
Well done, Mr. President!