One of the most unpleasant things to begin the new year was the generation of a dispute over the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre (CJRC). No other new year within living memory was allowed to begin with such an acerbic theme, certainly not in the days of Cheddi Jagan and LFS Burnham.
When one reads the newspapers’ coverage of the happenings over the CJRC, one is appalled at the very manner in which some persons conducted themselves, for example, when people were sent to tear down a signboard at the building.
Cheddi Jagan was one of the most important figures at a most important period of modern Guyanese history. For many decades, Guyanese history seemed to rotate about him and one could not understand Guyana’s story between the 1940s to the beginning of the new millennium except one studied Dr Jagan and the social and political milieu in which he operated.
Now, the best way of understanding and preserving Guyanese history of this important period is by the preservation of the records of the time, including the preservation of Dr and Mrs Jagan’s personal records. Such would be used by future generations of students and researchers and would be absolutely important in building and strengthening Guyanese nationality.
The CJRC had started this important work of the preservation of records of this most important period of Guyanese history and was making them available to University of Guyana and other students who were researching this period.
Those persons who had decided to spend their time and energy in accumulating this important archival material and making them available were doing an invaluable national service. They also had to spend much time in asserting, documenting and preserving those records for the benefit of thousands of students and future generations to come.
Whoever were the persons who visualised and started the CJRC, without realising it, were doing the same thing which the American Presidential Libraries do. Their work was even more important than the American Presidential Libraries since our Guyanese sense of history and of the importance of archival records is not as advanced as the US’s
One was thus horrified when one heard that all that valuable archival material had to be moved out in one day in the heart of the holiday season without any proper prepared place to store them. With such rapid movement of archives and without a prepared receiving accommodation, there is much possibility of loss of material. This, of course, would be to our own disadvantage.
This present situation is developing in unexpected ways and certainly would be eventually damaging to all the actors concerned. There are many solutions being mooted to restore some kind of normalcy and to ensure the views of all stakeholders are taken on board, including the State taking over ownership, restructuring CJRC’s management board with State representation and treating it how the National Library is governed.
Certainly, any solution at this time, to be successful and nationally acceptable, will have to involve discussions with all stakeholders. But whatever solution is arrived at, a sense of realism would be salutary for those involved to grasp.
The reality is that all the political parties will eventually pass away and the present little victories and vendettas will also disappear into oblivion, and the present actors will, for a short time, be remembered with respect or contempt and in a shorter time will also disappear into oblivion.
But Guyanese history and this important period of Dr Jagan and his times will keep growing in value to the public and researchers for generations to come.
