On Wednesday December 8, SN published two letters by Professor Tarron Khemraj and Dr Baytoram Ramharack with the following headlines: “We cannot fully explore US strategy towards Jagan without considering how deep Jagan was embedded in the Soviet orbit” and “Soviet style Marxism-Leninism became like a religious conviction for Jagan and led to catastrophic repercussions for the country.”
Dr. Baytoram Ramharack is a leading protagonist of the view, held by a section of educated Indian Guyanese opinion, that Cheddi Jagan was a plantation idiot.
Just as Guyana is beginning to emerge out of the Covid darkness, the Omicron variant has been first detected in South Africa but almost simultaneously discovered in other countries such as Israel, Belgium and other African countries.
During a recent trip to Ghana, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said that Guyana, with its small population and limited labour force, would reach full employment soon.
Guyana is and has always been a primary producer. During its years of Independence, although there was some economic growth, Guyana was unable to significantly diversify its economy by, firstly, adding value to what it produced and, secondly, advancing the process of industrialisation.
The fundamental political problem in Guyana, as has been repeatedly emphasized in these columns and by others over the years, is the struggle for ethno-political dominance.
Up to five years ago I would walk regularly to meetings from my office north along Avenue of the Republic, from west of the Supreme Court building, then west into Robb Street, to the then Fogarty’s building in Water Street.
October 5 will mark the 29th anniversary of the return of free and fair elections to Guyana in 1992, and the first attempt since then to restore the dark days of election rigging.
Like in the United States, and across the world, Guyana is witnessing vigorous protests, politically-inspired, against taking the vaccine to protect against the COVID-19 virus.
The Sunday Stabroek’s editorial last Sunday, “Democratic values,” stated: “A more predictable viewpoint which he [Cheddi Jagan] never relinquished was that class in Guyana was more important than race, a somewhat tenuous assumption at best and plain inaccurate at worst.”
For those like me who find it difficult to keep track, or have lost track, of political and judicial events since the no confidence motion of December 21, 2018, was passed against the APNU+AFC Government in the National Assembly, Anand Goolsarran’s newly published book, “Triumph of Democracy and the Rule of Law: Guyana 2020 Elections and their Aftermath,” has come to the rescue.