The PPP will have discussions with the immediate family of the late former president Janet Jagan as it seeks to ensure that her memory endures as that of her “husband, the indomitable leader, Cde Cheddi Jagan.”

This was revealed yesterday at a press conference by the party’s General Secretary Donald Ramotar who expressed thanks to all the persons who honoured Mrs Jagan’s memory and offered condolences on her death.

Ramotar, speaking at the party’s headquarters Freedom House on Robb Street, said that the widespread sympathy expressed on her death was “the most telling answer to those … who sought to ridicule and demonise her in her lifetime.”

Ramotar pointed out that the many activities to mark the death of Mrs Jagan were massively supported and the party saw this as a fitting demonstration of recognition of the significant part she played in Guyana’s history and its social life.

He said the death of the former president did not represent the closing of the book on her eventful life. “She was a formidable figure in the entire history of our party,” Ramotar said. “She was an extraordinary political fighter who championed the causes of the exploited and oppressed. She was courageous and endowed with admirable characteristics. She did not compromise her lofty principles nor did she flinch in the face of difficult challenges.”

Mrs Jagan died last month following a brief hospitalisation at the Georgetown Public Hospital.