Extend to the past President Jagdeo and the PPP/C their well-deserved appreciation

IT was good that Guyana’s National Stadium was there, such a grand, marvellous venue for the occasion, to host the inauguration of President David Granger. I was half expecting that the MC would have extended some words of appreciation to past President Bharrat Jagdeo for boldly and courageously pushing forward against criticism from many directions to have that facility built and available. Always a stickler for sustainability, past President Jagdeo sought and obtained significant assistance from the Government and people of India, trimming the design to minimise first cost, and putting off some things which were added at later stages – the stadium lights, the professional stage and paving the internal parking areas. He urged the design and layout for multiple uses – football, concerts and fairs, etc. Even the unpaved parking lot has been pressed into use as a building material storage and soil-blending area. We have in Guyana, now, one of the best and most utilised stadiums awaiting Guyana’s 50th Independence Anniversary! It was with similar attention to detail that past President Jagdeo led the construction of the Guyana International Conference Centre (with assistance from the Government and people of China), thus having it available for proud naming as the Arthur Chung International Conference Centre (not an inappropriate name). And, earlier, in a similar way he had led in Guyana eventually satisfying the commitment made by the then President Burnham in 1973 to provide a headquarters for CARICOM. Jagdeo, matching from our own funds a grant from the Government and people of Japan, was adamant that we do the best within our means and circumstances and at the same time adequately satisfy the needs of form and function. Do you recall the controversy then about the CARICOM Headquarters building? It may yet become the next facility for proud naming! Jagdeo needed to be bold and brave; the faint-hearted would make little headway, particularly in Guyana and with a new vision. Often, one has to press ahead differently from what many might be calling for. Henry Ford, a pioneer in the mass production of motor vehicles, was said to have remarked that if he had listened to the farmers, he would have bred a stronger horse; and listening to the city dwellers, he would have bred a faster horse. Perusing the many commentators on the intractable social, political and economic conditions in Guyana and their interconnections, one thinks of the Gordian knot that no one could unravel. As we were taught, young Alexander the Great refusing to submit to and to be befuddled and delayed by its complexity, took up his sword and cut through the knot. One must recall too, the context within which past President Jagdeo had to manage: the extremely difficult social, political and economic background – the slogan and practice of ‘Slow Fyah, mo Fyah’ following the PPP/C win at the 1997 elections which led even before any of the claimed degeneration of the PPP/C, to the proclamation of “freedom fighters” and the gunmen whose capture seemed to pose conceptual difficulties for a number of the then leaders of the nation’s security forces. The nation was put under great tension. Extending trust beyond the closest circles seemed to be courting suicide. There was much forcing and cutting through required to advance the Guyana economy and society to where they are today. And there would have been much bruising and hurt along the way. Of course, not all such forceful ventures would be successful. I have been from early, a cautious, ‘safe-bet’ person and I do recall about 1973 in my bauxite days, being pointed to a book then popular, ‘Up the Organisation’. The author, perhaps tongue in cheek, argued that any CEO that is having a success ratio greater than one in three in his proposed initiatives is likely being too cautious and may be missing truly game-changing possibilities for his company. Mr Editor, the charges were laid again that the PPP/C had neglected the development of the hinterland. What is one to think of the regular, daily number 72 and 94 minibus services to Mahdia (from about 1996) and to Lethem (from about 2006), putting movement between these places and the coast within the reach of many more Guyanese and thus facilitating increased social and economic activities and coastland – hinterland linking? And there are new roads and transportation services within Region 1 and Region 7. There are greatly improved education and health services and the grant of PV solar home systems to every home across the hinterland, ensuring a degree of electrification where a micro-electricity grid is not economic. The opening up of those roads and the branch to Karasabai and through to Monkey Mountain and Kato in Region 8 are stories to be told at another time, stories of how partnering was developed between the Government and relevant stakeholders. Today, too, many hinterland locations can be contacted by cell phones. What could be the basis of these charges of neglect? Mr Editor, my final question arises from the part of the programme ‘Spotlight’ which I saw a few nights ago. There was much pontification about the maturity of political groups and countries evident in the way they behaved on learning of the results of their national elections. Favourable mention was made of political groups in another developing country, but not a word on our Guyana situation: how the PNC behaved in the run-up to, during and after the 1992 elections which brought the PPP/C to office. There was much the same for our 1997 elections with, as mentioned before, the addition of the ‘Slow Fyah, mo Fyah’ slogan. The commentator’s silence was thunderous in not raising obvious comparisons with our PPP and PPP/C response, to the change in Administration on the declaration of the 2015 elections (which we earnestly dispute even if no one else cares) and to the manipulated results of the elections from 1964 to 1985, when we covered our faces with our hands and cried our hearts out. What are we of the PPP and PPP/C to think when our contributions and sacrifices to keeping people, nation and country whole seem to be viewed askance? The PPP/C, at the wicket or in the field, in or out of office will continue to be the best team, the ‘A’ team, for the people and country of Guyana.

CDE SAMUEL A. A. HINDS Former Prime Minister and President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana