Dear Editor,
From time immemorial, the politics of inclusion and broad representation have always triumphed over fear and intimidation.
In Guyana’s context, our country is a classic case study.
In the years leading up to national independence following the Second World War, a multiracial group comprised of Dr. Cheddi Jagan, Janet Jagan, Ashton Chase and Joycelyn Hubbard established the Political Affairs Committee on November 6, 1946 to pursue representative politics and inclusive governance through universal adult suffrage.
With the advent of the People’s Progressive Party on January 1, 1950, as an established political force that consisted of a wide cross-section of Guyanese, the move towards peaceful agitation for independence and national identity began.
In the early 1950’s, the PPP team and membership took root in practically every part of Guyana on a platform of transitioning our country from a dependent colony to an independent nation where her peoples were free to live and prosper in unity and harmony.
That was short-lived however, as a breakaway faction led by Forbes Burnham formed the PNC, in collusion and connivance with external forces that were unfriendly and unkind to the conviviality that perpetuated under the diverse banner of the PPP.
Thereafter, the PNC embarked on a vicious campaign to derail the independence efforts of the PPP which culminated in sordid violence against our Guyanese brothers and sisters around 1964.
After handed unelected authority in 1964 and an independent Guyana in 1966, the PNC began dismantling the institutions of national unity at break-neck speed.
A once peace-loving and ethnically diverse country was transformed into a desperate nation governed through fear and intimidation.
The result of such undemocratic rule saw the rise of a dictator, one party rule and party paramountcy never before practised in the English-speaking Caribbean.
Tens of thousands of Guyanese were driven from the shores of our country, illegally and legally, as ethnic discrimination, political victimization, economic malaise, widespread ill -health, food shortages, national insecurity, endemic corruption and rigged elections became historic in Guyana.
After prolonged peaceful and non-violent struggles, the move from ethnic domination and unelected rule to democratic transition began in late 1992 upon the return of a broad-based multiracial, multireligious, multicultural coalition of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic led by Dr. Cheddi Jagan and Prime Minister Samuel Hinds.
The transformation of our country into a national polity with sound governance structures once again prospered.
During the period 1993-2014, Guyana prospered immensely rising to the top of the Caribbean economic index. Democracy was restored, good governance prospered, the economy grew, hope beckoned, poverty reduced, jobs flourished, constitution respected, national institutions fortified.
This all happened because the PPP is premised on multiracial, multicultural politics. The PPP is a unifying force.
The period from mid 2015 to mid 2020 during the rule of APNU+AFC, which was led by the PNC as the main and significant partner, Guyana’s excitement went into a tailspin as ethnic discrimination, racist policies, political vendettas, en vogue corruption, poverty, unconstitutional rule and national fear stalked our land.
Today, with President Ali at the helm, after leading the PPPC to victory at the 2020 elections, a new life has been breathed into Guyana.
Our country is now the fastest growing economy in the world, national pride has become entrenched, world class investments are prospering, ethnic domination zeroed, constitutional rule restored, jobs bountiful and national harmony pervasive.
The platform of President Ali, One Guyana, is truly being realized because every Guyanese has a role and a space to function and contribute in an unfettered way.
We need to continue on this path and our country and her peoples will soar to unimaginable heights.
Guyanese must at all cost repel and rebuke racism, intolerance fear, bullyism and intimidation propagated by the APNU and Norton.
Yours faithfully,
Nigel Dharamlall
Minister of Local Government and
Regional Development
