–      educating the children
–      developing the nation
FROM the inception of the Jagans’ long hard fight for justice and equality in the nation, the political construct they had formed into the PPP with all their supporters, including patriots in the Diaspora,  has waged a relentless struggle to first win independence for Guyana and, subsequently, to wrest democracy from the monstrous jaws of the neo-Nazis who had imposed a Draconian rule over the hapless and helpless Guyanese nation after having created divisions in the people, which still mercilessly plague this country; albeit the equitable governance of the PPP/C is inexorably eradicating this destructive anomaly in Guyana’s plural society whereby the average Guyanese citizen, who is eschewing the politics of race for a better present for themselves and their families, and an enhanced future for their children and posterity. Bharrat Jagdeo regime has driven many developmental programmes
Over the decades the players and faces change, but the strategies never do.  However, the current Government has demonstrated its caring for the Guyanese people over and beyond any borders, with dynamic and transformational changes in the developmental landscape of the nation.  At the opening ceremony of the Ministry of Housing’s International Building Exposition in August of 2010, young Housing Minister Irfaan Alli had poignantly asked “…why do we always burden ourselves with negativity instead of celebrating what we have accomplished as a people?” Indeed, why?
The Private Sector has thrown its weight solidly behind the developmental initiatives of the Government because they realise that only by taking a holistic approach will Guyana’s economy expand and the developmental processes continue its upward mobility, which will ultimately redound to the benefit of everyone in the country.  But this development has to continue its momentum, and this leads to the conjecture of whether the next President will have the capacity to sustain this trajectory of growth so ably piloted by Dr. Jagan and President Bharrat Jagdeo, because every ship needs a capable and committed pilot or it runs aground.  Our own history has taught us that, and we certainly do not want to return to the days when every aspect of life in this country had hit rock-bottom before this administration took hold of the wheel.

Caring beyond Guyana’s borders
The caring of the PPP presidents have transcended the national borders into creating and charting policies that could benefit the world, because the PPP has always reached out a hand in friendship to countries all across the globe on the premise that the world is one global village with the inhabitants needing to look out for each other.
Dr. Cheddi Jagan had espoused this concept long ago and propagated the mechanism for this construct to be a global strategy for human development in his new Human Global Order, which has been adopted by the United Nations and is even now taking centre stage at various international fora.  This vision is our Dr. Cheddi Jagan’s gift to the world.
Each country is a microcosm of the wider world, with leadership portfolios in various spheres, and in a contextual way Guyana is representative of the struggle for survival and identity of every country in the world, even the great USA, the history of which is well-documented as one of struggles and overcoming hurdles.  Many atrocities are committed by leaders on their own peoples, causing much socio-economic dislocations and infrastructural devastation, and Guyanese still, to some extent, are affected by our past.

Guyanese bonding in targeting common goals
But slowly there has been an emergence of reconciliation and the knowledge that we are not enemies following divergent paths, because our goals are the same, and this is demonstrated every day as Guyanese from every community and every walk of life come to the realisation that opposing their personal development for the glorification, aggrandizement, and enrichment of pseudo leaders cannot build a peaceful and prosperous country for their children to inherit.
They are also recognising that the PPP/C Government has their welfare at heart, because formerly impoverished families now, as the President remarked, have achieved dignity because they own things, especially their own homes, which gives them a stake in their own country and a sense of belonging and security that they never had before.
But then Guyana’s current leaders have demonstrated that they have an inherent love for their fellow man, a commitment to the general advancement of society, and an approach to a national developmental paradigm based on integrity and honesty, instead of egomania driving self-aggrandizement.
For instance, someone questioned the credentials of Dr. Frank Anthony; but Dr. Anthony had followed the great Dr. Cheddi Jagan and imbibed his ideals since before he was aged ten, as has many of the PPP leaders, even the young crop, including – and especially, his grandson, Cheddi Beret Jagan 11, Attorney-at-Law; as well as Guyana’s incumbent President who had been handpicked by the national patriarch and matriarch before they left this world.
But we have political leaders and aspiring leaders, and their acolytes and satellites, who use every opportunity to denigrate and derail the developmental processes of this nation, merely to advance their own selfish causes and agendas.

Jimmy Carter is Guyana’s best-loved friend and saviour
We are a developing country – emerging from a history of a plethora of destructive elemental forces that devastated our nation, even to the point where even the more optimistic thought that we would never emerge from the quagmire in which we had been immersed for decades – to the point where even the more altruistic funding agencies had practically written us off as almost beyond redemption.
Until Jimmy Carter decided, in the interest of justice, and in light of  the contention of Guyana’s supreme leader, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, that the PPP had been “cheated, not defeated” for decades during general elections in Guyana, that the Carter Centre should use its phenomenal power to force the Hoyte administration, which is recorded to have been responsible for the worst election rigging in the history of Guyana during general elections of 1985, as well as the Draconian Economic Recovery Programme (ERP – empty rice pot) that he had imposed on the Guyanese people, to concede to having relatively “free and fair” general elections in our country after decades of PNC rule.
Dr. Jagan was vindicated and the reconfigured PPP, with its civic component,  undertook the gargantuan task of trying to restore some order out of the critical and chaotic national landscape then prevailing – in every area.
One of the more pressing needs was to reduce the crippling debt burden – $2.1 billion, which was stymieing rehabilitation and developmental works.

Overcoming odds to chart a progressive future
Dr. Jagan and his brilliant and trusted young acolyte, junior Finance Minister, Bharrat Jagdeo, went into overdrive, lobbying at every conceivable forum for a reduction and/or write-off of the albatross of Guyana’s debt.  The international world responded favourably over the years and this, coupled with prudent fiscal management, has enabled Guyana to stabilize its economy, and even allowed some degree of growth, in less than two decades, to the extent where, in a recessional global environment where even the most developed nations are collapsing, Guyana has managed to maintain stability and sustain its macro-economic achievements.
The importance of this to the national economic health and the development of Guyana’s macro-economic fundamentals is being attested to by some big leaguers in the entrepreneurial fraternity, most of whom are not traditional PPP supporters, but whom are honest enough to publicly recognize and appreciate the Government’s policies and strategies, and its willingness to productively engage in interactive programmes that can facilitate the development of the private sector’s initiatives, especially when these initiatives are adjunctive to Government’s developmental imperatives.

Endorsement of administration by Private Sector heads
Chairman of the Private Sector Commission, Ramesh Dookhoo endorsed this at the opening ceremony of the International Building Exposition 2010.
Speaking at the ceremonials of the certification of the Ogle Airport as an international airport, CEO Mike Correia had said: “Today, I see a Guyana that has better economic prospects, over the next 5 – 10 years, than ever before…”
At the launch of Guyana’s premier trade fair, GuyExpo, Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Capt. Gerry Gouveia, told an attentive audience that the PSC is looking forward with excitement to the future of Guyana and is working with all stakeholders.
The powerbrokers of the world are lauding our President for his LCDS, and the courage and leadership qualities he is demonstrating – enough to position Guyana conspicuously on the global map, with all the initiatives he has driven – whether the LCDS, whether in agriculture, whether it is a lone stance against a draconian regime being forced on our region through an EPA propelled by the powerful EU, which would have severely dislocated our socio-economic imperatives.  He has also been one of the first voices to be lifted against the oppressive policies of the Bretton Woods organisations.  Guyana has absolute food security and is well on the way to achieving the UN’s MDGs.
Our performance indices are climbing – slowly but surely, on global graphs, and powerful world bodies are demonstrating their faith in the governance of this nation, notwithstanding the odd hiccup here and there, by the sustained, and even expanded, support over the years.
Yet the doomsayers and the naysayers continue, unabated, their spiteful and jealous tirades.  In their attempt to bring down the Government, they lobby internationally, and within the country, against initiatives that would help in the development of this country and its people – even to the extent of trying (unsuccessfully) to derail our border talks.
In efforts to foster the fallacy that they, or the parties of their choice, would make better leaders for this nation, they are not above peddling lies and distortions in attempts to drive their point home, or to validate their arguments.  But how solid is their personal integrity and credibility, and the record of their performance when they were in office?  Because this should be the primary indicator of their credibility and integrity – not to mention their (in)ability to move this country forward.
As Minister Irfaan Ali said, it is time to celebrate our accomplishments as a people and not dwell on negativity, because this is the only way forward to achieve peace progress and prosperity in our country.