PRESIDENT CARTER,
A TRUE FRIEND OF GUYANA,
VISITS AGAIN.
By Ralph Ramkarran
It required the renowned stature and nuanced diplomatic skills of President Carter to negotiate the necessary concessions that would guarantee free and fair elections. President Carter’s name will remain forever associated with Guyana’s democracy.
After the 1992 elections the Carter Centre assisted in preparing the National Development Strategy (“NDS&rdquo
in six volumes, which was launched by President Jagan on January 6, 1997.
It was finalized in 2000 after civil society participation under the leadership of Dr. Kenneth King, a leading official of the PNCR at the time. It was thereafter described on the NDS website as seeking “to define our most urgent priorities and, in every case, clearly lays down concrete policy reforms and actions.
It is the product of many of us: Guyanese of all races and diverse professions. To implement it and to realize the dream it embodies would require the collaboration of the entire nation…”
The collaborative process by civil society opened up the real possibility of a social contract in Guyana based on the NDS, which would forge broad-based agreements as to the policies to move Guyana forward.
But the NDS was soon after, quietly, shunted aside and ignored, only to be dusted off from time to time to propagandize about government policies being in line with the nationally acclaimed NDS.
Today we have the ludicrous spectacle
of both parties alleging
that the 2011 elections
were rigged against them.