Promised independence was conditioned on political and ideological considerations

As Guyanese observe yet another Independence anniversary, it is perhaps necessary to look back at some of the highlights of that moment 56 years ago when the Union Jack was replaced by the Golden Arrowhead on May 26, 1966. Many Guyanese living today were not around during that eventful moment when Guyanese became, as it were, ‘masters’ of their own destiny. What most Guyanese may not be aware of, however, are the intrigues and political machinations that took place prior to, and during the course of the conferral of independence status to the then colony of British Guiana.

Guyana was promised independence by Britain much earlier but political and ideological considerations stood in the way. The records will show that the colony was promised independence since the early 1960’s but the British Government, under pressure from the United States, reneged on that promise. As pointed out by Arthur Schlesinger (Jnr) then Advisor to US President Kennedy, the US administration was under the impression that ‘an independent British Guiana under Cheddi Jagan would pose fewer problems to the United States than an independent Guiana under Forbes Burnham.

To say that Kennedy erred in his assessment of the situation in Guyana would be an understatement. This acknowledgement was made by Schlesinger himself when he later apologized to Dr. Jagan for an injustice done to him. It is a fact that the very opposite took place in Guyana after Burnham was catapulted to office in 1964 following the introduction of Proportional Representation (PR) which replaced the First-Past-the Post electoral model which, it must be said, was common to the entire British Commonwealth. The move to amend the electoral formula was described by former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson as a ‘fiddled constitutional arrangement designed to remove Dr. Jagan from power, a move unknown in the history of Commonwealth politics.’