The 1957 General Elections “Marking Time” with the Renison Constitution

Introduction

It was the year of the Bandung Conference in Africa. For Africa it was also the year when, a decade after the dismantling of the British Raj on the sub-continent of India, it would have concrete evidence that the process of decolonization was truly on its way with the independence of Ghana.

For the citizens of British Guiana, after three years of “marking time” under an Interim Constitution and a nominated Interim government imposed after the suspension of the comparatively forward looking Waddington Constitution, it was the year when they were given an opportunity to vote for a second Interim Government but one which would once again include an elective component. Although, it is still some seven months before the actual fiftieth anniversary of that election, I thought it might be a good thing to jog the memories of those amongst us who were old enough to participate in the activities and those among us who were too young or had not yet been born. Perhaps we would all appreciate where we were, how far we have come and how far we still have to go.

The Waddington Constitution

To appreciate the significance of the 1957 General Election which was held under the auspices of the Renison Constitution, it is necessary to examine in some detail the specifics of the suspended Waddington Constitution, the Interim Constitution which took its place and the operation of the government under the latter.

The suspension of the Waddington Constitution, described in a Foreign Service Dispatch to the State Department in Washington, DC as the “Bloodless Imperial Coup in British Guiana” was the second political demotion for the colony in twenty five years.

The first, was undoubtedly the introduction in 1928 of Crown Colony government which finally dissolved the Dutch inherited Court of Policy and Combined Court in the latter of which especially, the elected members held a decisive majority although that majority was in favour of the planter class who used it to preserve their own interests at the expense of the mainly non-white working class majority.

However, in the aftermath of World War II, Britain, though eager was cautious in the dismantling of her cumbersome and burdensome Colonial Empire. Her first step, especially in the Caribbean was to grant Internal Self Government, preferably under the auspices of Federation, as a prelude to independence. In the specific case of British Guiana on October 8, 1950 a Commis-sion under the chairmanship of Sir E.J Waddington was instructed “to review the franchise, the composition of the Legislative Council and any other related manners, in the light of the economic and political development of the colony, and to make recommendations.” The commission recommended the introduction of universal adult suffrage; a bicameral legislature consisting of a House of Assembly of 24 elected members and three ex-officio members: the Chief Secretary, the Financial Secretary and the Attorney General and State Council consisting of 6 members nominated by the governor; 2 nominated by the majority group and one by the minority group in the House of Assembly. However, while there was no longer any income or property qualification, elected members had to be literate in English. There was also to be an Executive Council consisting of the Governor as President, three ex-officio members, namely the Chief Secretary, the Attorney General, the Financial Secretary and seven ministers. Six of the seven ministers were to be elected by the House of Assembly from among elected members and one by the State Council.

It soon became evident that the Waddington Commis-sioners and Whitehall had severely underestimated the extent of the growth of political consciousness among the Guianese people. Using as its yardstick the weak British Guiana Labour Party which had been formed by J. B. Singh in 1946 and all but disappeared after its defeat in the 1947 elections, they had by and large ignored the emergence of the mass based People’s Progressive Party (PPP). They had postulated: “Ministerial responsibility in England is collective, predicates the existence of fully fledged party system. This does not yet apply in British Guiana