Dear Editor,
I refer to the recent letter on July 9 by Mr Mohammed Sattaur (Dr Jagan’s legacy is alive and well’) in which he, in a very shallow and trite discussion, tries to claim that the legacy of President Cheddi Jagan is intact in the hands of those within the walls of Freedom House. The Jamaica Observer’s editorial of July 9 enlightens us to his claims because it shows that the poor performance of the PPP government after my father passed away has gotten to the point where we’ve become a laughing stock in the Caribbean.
Mr Sattaur should be the last to talk about the legacy of Cheddi Jagan because he, as head of NCN and the state media, flagrantly violates the essence of democratic norms. Those critical of this government are not allocated air time, and as a matter of fact, only telecasts from NCN are received in certain areas of our country, and imagine, taxpayers’ money keeps it going.
Jagan believed in democracy and the freedom of the press and so Mr Sattaur is in violation of the legacy he and others pay ‘lip service’ to.
Mr Sattaur mentions certain names like Mr Sam Hinds and President Jagdeo and their efforts to keep the Jagan legacy alive.
After fifteen years, what have they accomplished for the Guyanese nation? Poor water supply, poor electrical supply, chaos in our interior in mining and logging, crime on the rise, poor-paying jobs for our youths, poverty on the spread, and the list can go on and on. Come on Mr Sattaur, where is the legacy?
The Jamaica Observer editorial was basically the truth when it exposed the fact that this PPP government still believes in the failed policies of the past, which is that government and not the private sector is the ‘engine of growth.’ President Cheddi clearly recognized in the last years of his presidency that the private sector is definitely the ‘engine of growth.’ But he also believed in the primacy of the national bourgeoisie (as opposed to the foreign bourgeoisie) but underlined government involvement to protect the workers, the environment, and the interest of all Guyanese. Mr Sattaur’s statements ring hollow when he writes about Dr Jagan’s commitment to debt relief, as if debt relief is the cure for all economic ailments in the Third World; it is just an impetus for an economic revival if it is followed by economic reforms, which have not happened in this country – a dereliction of Jagan’s legacy.
Dr Jagan was committed to better education for the people, and look at the University of Guyana; Dr Jagan was committed to good governance and an end to corruption and nepotism, but just look around our country; Jagan was committed to the export of manufactured products, agri-industrial products, and even like Mauritius, techno-products, yet our main exports are human beings fleeing for better jobs and a better life; Jagan was committed to a lean government and when he passed away he had fourteen ministers and had planned to reduce that number, but today the bureaucracy has increased to twenty-three ministers, including some whom President Cheddi would never have employed; Jagan was committed to the concept of coalition government and he would have moved in that direction if death had not intervened, but instead we now have a more divided nation and hence, a weaker nation.
The present leaders in Freedom House have no intention of following Jagan’s legacy of unifying the nation through the coalition politics he had called for on many occasions. Even the Civic component of the PPP/Civic formation is toothless and reduced to biting their nails in frustration because of the lacklustre leadership of Mr Sam Hinds. Dr Jagan wanted to expand the Civic to embrace all levels of our society in governmental service.
This is not the path taken since his death. Come on Mr Sattaur, where’s the legacy? Jagan believed and lived for Caribbean integration and unity and he wrote many articles on the subject, but, as the Jamaica Observer said in its editorial, this communist government of ours is now creating fissures in a situation where all Caribbean countries have to stand together for common betterment.
This is not what Jagan would have stood for, especially when arrangements were in place for all to stand together. Come on Mr Sattaur, where’s the legacy?
Yours faithfully,
Cheddi (Joey) Jagan(Jr)
