You may recall that, like today with President Ramotar and Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo, when the latter took the presidency from Ms. Janet Jagan in 1999, there was much talk of his being Ms. Jagan’s man and optimists opined that once he won his own presidency in 2001 we would see a different policy orientation. Yet all hopes were dashed as the policy orientation of the earlier Jagdeo period became even more entrenched.
Almost every political act in Guyana could be conceived in racial terms and this occurred even during the Cheddi Jagan 1992-1997 regime. Yet, in my view, Ms. Jagan came to her presidency with good intentions: intending to do all she possibly could for all Guyana’s peoples. However, the weight of history, real or perceived, was too heavy and the difficulties she confronted were insurmountable: after all, to many, even in her party, she represented the problem!
In the PPP itself, there were those who balked at her claim that, on his death bed, Cheddi Jagan bequeathed the presidency to her,
