President Bharrat Jagdeo awarded a posthumous Order of Liberation to Dr. Cheddi Jagan during a formal ceremony at State House last evening for his role in restoring democracy here.

Receiving the award on behalf of her late husband was former President, Mrs Janet Jagan, who said it was a great honour and one her husband deserved.

The Government Information Agency (GINA) reported that the award was given in recognition of the sterling contributions made by the founder of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) in Guyana’s political sphere and in honour of the role he played in restoring democracy to Guyana. It is now Guyana’s highest national award.

Among those attending the ceremony were Members of the Diplomatic Corps, Parliamentarians, members of the opposition and Members of the Disciplined Services.

The GINA statement said that President Jagdeo recalled that Dr. Jagan was one of the first advocates for debt-relief for the developing world from multilateral agencies and had also spoken of “ecological justice”. Jagdeo expressed his displeasure with what transpired recently in Bali, Indonesia at the Climate Change Conference. He noted that some of the larger, developed countries are unwilling to commit to binding emission cuts even though many of them are the largest carbon emitters.