Dear Editor,
1992 could be regarded as a defining moment in the political life of Guyana. It marked a break from authoritarian rule which had cast a dark shadow over the country for more than two decades. With the restoration of democratic rule a new chapter in the political life of the country was written which would have changed the narrative of this once blighted country from one of backwardness and despair to that of hope and prosperity. After some twenty-eight years in the political wilderness, Guyana’s premier politician and revolutionary, Dr Cheddi Jagan was elected as the country’s first democratically elected executive President of Guyana. At his swearing in ceremony and victory speech he made it clear that the victory of the PPP/C at the polls was a victory for all Guyanese, regardless of race, religion or political affiliation. That exhortation was reminiscent of his victory speech in the elections of 1947 when he won a seat in the Legislative Assembly despite a limited suffrage. “We the people have won”, he declared, and with the greatest of humility he proceeded to change the political landscape of Guyana in a way few could have imagined possible. Dr Jagan and his PPP proved to the world that honesty and integrity in politics and an uncompromising stance on behalf of the poor and the underprivileged can be rewarding, as he swept the polls in the elections of 1953, the first under universal adult suffrage winning a crushing victory of eighteen out of twenty-four seats in the Legislative Assembly. But the colonial powers had other ideas and demonstrated their own version of ‘democracy’ by suspending the constitution and removing the popular and democratically elected PPP government in what could only be described as a constitutional coup on October 9, 1953, six months after the PPP was elected to office.
It must have been a case of poetic justice that on that very day, October 9, thirty-nine years later on October 9, 1992 Dr. Jagan was again sworn in as the duly elected President of Guyana after winning a comfortable majority of the votes cast in the first democratic elections in twenty-four years. In a very real sense, October 5, 1992 could be seen as a watershed year in the political, economic and social life of Guyana. At the political level, it represented a break from a dark period of repressive rule in which the basic and fundamental rights of the Guyanese people were trampled upon, including the right to elect a government of one’s choice in free and fair elections. A climate of fear and hopelessness stalked the land and many Guyanese fled the country of their birth in search of a more secure existence. At the economic level, the country saw a reversal of fortunes as one of the more prosperous countries in the region during the early 1960s to the poorest in the entire Western hemisphere. Guyana was declared uncreditworthy by the international financial institutions due to its inability to repay its overseas debts, which in per capita terms was one of the highest in the hemisphere.
Production levels in all the major sectors plummeted which led to severe balance of payments problems. The response by the regime was to ban essential imported food items as a means to conserve on foreign exchange spending and there was the draconian imposition of trade and currency restrictions which led to a flourishing underground economy. The economic crisis resulted in a social crisis which manifested itself in falling standards in education, health, housing and water, and a dilapidated physical infrastructure. Guyanese students found themselves at the bottom of the performance ladder educationally, and the quality of health care reached low levels. Housing was almost completely ignored and the supply of water reduced to a mere trickle if at all.
It took the return of the PPP/C to the reins of power before the social decline was eventually arrested, while the economic turnaround accelerated. It would be an understatement to say that the PPP returned the country to normalcy. Indeed, through good governance and prudent management of the economy, Guyana was able to shed its image as a pariah state and graduated from low income to middle income status with rising levels of prosperity for Guyanese. Who can deny that under the PPP/C government Guyanese by the thousands became the proud owners of their own homes and other consumer durables which under the previous PNC administration were but a distant dream?
The PPP in a statement to mark the return of democracy to Guyana declared that it is proud of the role it has played in the struggle for a democratic Guyana and in the creation of a cohesive and prosperous Guyana.
The PPP, as always, continues to draw inspiration from its founder leader, Dr Cheddi Jagan, who always reminded Guyanese that time is on the side of the PPP, and even though the struggle may be long and hard, victory is inevitable.
Yours faithfully,
Hydar Ally
