A large number of observers of varying views believe that the single most important obstacle to progress in Guyana over the past fifty years and before has been the expression of ethnic division in organized political form and the failure to find a resolution to this dilemma by way of a constitutional or any other form of modus vivendi. There is as yet no convincing indication that there is a national commitment that this matter will take centre stage this year, even though constitutional reform has been promised.
Already, however, President Granger, whose party presided over the granting of Independence in 1966 and now presides over the celebration of its fiftieth anniversary, has commenced the event with his party’s well known, politically divisive, narrative about entering 1966 under a state of emergency. This can, but hopefully will not, set the tone for the celebrations of the fiftieth independence anniversary. The narrative that his party brought peace to Guyana from 1964 when it assumed office attracts the counter-narrative that it is those who created the violence that brought it to an end, leading to a one-sided celebration of the anniversary. Let us hope that this will not happen.
Reflecting over the past fifty years, it would be helpful if Guyanese can focus on where we went wrong, if we are still going wrong and how the
