Credit must be given to our current and past leaders

The road to independence was fraught with much intrigues. It is an established fact that Britain, under pressure from the United States, deliberately withheld independence to Guyana despite an earlier undertaking to grant independence after the 1961 elections, regardless of which party emerged victorious in the elections. The PPP, led by Dr. Cheddi Jagan, won the elections but the granting of independence was delayed until May 1966 after the PPP, mainly for ideological reasons, was removed from office in 1964. The PPP had won a plurality of the votes in the 1964 elections but was unable to form the government due to a change in the electoral system from the constituency model to proportional representation which was described by former British Prime Harold Wilson as ‘a fiddled constitutional arrangement’.

In some respects, the granting of independence was not reflective of the national mood which at that time was fractured by the political tension which obtained at the time. The country was still recovering from the racial disturbances and riots during the early 1960’s. Much is being made of the symbolic ‘warm’ embrace between then Prime Minister Forbes Burnham and Opposition Leader Dr. Cheddi Jagan during the flag raising ceremony when the Golden Arrowhead replaced the Union Jack.

That however masked an injustice done to Dr. Jagan and the PPP which was manipulated out of office in the 1964 elections in favour of the PNC-UF coalition government. What followed was a narrative of rigged elections and a systematic erosion of the fundamental rights of the Guyanese people. The country experienced years of consecutive economic and social decline for the greater part of the post-independence period until democracy was finally restored to the country on October 5, 1992.

Be that as it may, we have come a long way since 1966. The country is today a sovereign nation. It is fair to say that we are now experiencing one of our best moments, due in part to our newly-found petroleum resources. Guyana is today a highly-valued member of the international community. In all of this credit must be given to our current and past leaders for having steered the ship of state even in the face of political and economic turbulence to a point where we are today ranked among the fasted growing economy in the world. We owe a debt of gratitude to those who championed the cause of democracy and independence. We are indeed better off for their struggles and sacrifices.