By Ryhaan Shah
The beautifully printed golden invitations to the official launch of the stamps to mark the hundredth birthday of President Cheddi Jagan at the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre (CJRC) were sent out well in advance of the occasion. As you all know, the occasion never happened.
President David Granger stepped in and scrapped the issuance of the stamps, citing a planned announcement for “national symbols” and “set criteria for honouring eminent Guyanese” which Attorney Anil Nandlall dismissed as “adjectival verbiage” in a letter to the press which laid out the legal implications of Granger’s interference in the work of the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC).
Minister of Telecommunications Cathy Hughes had granted permission for the stamps’ issuance because it contravened none of the GPOC’s rules or conventions on such matters. In fact, in a letter to the CJRC, Hughes stated that she was looking forward to working with the Centre on “this exciting project”.
In a just and civil state, the Government would not only have issued the commemorative stamps but would have made sure they would be ready for unveiling and with much celebratory fanfare on the anniversary date as a mark of respect for a man who is considered by the majority of Guyanese as “The Father of the Nation” and a national hero.
Instead, Granger followed the scrapping of the stamps with quibblings about “national symbols” and we also learned that any commemorative stamp for President Cheddi Jagan would be linked to the issuing of similar stamps for President Arthur Chung who was a ceremonial prop for Burnham’s dictatorship – Granger’s idea of “equity”!
All that was said, then three days ago, there were new bits of quibbling from Granger about setting the proper context, etc, for the stamps’ issuance as he did an about-face and reversed his order. The stamps which are already printed will be issued, after all.
I suppose, Granger must be allowed room to save face but he only backed off because of the widespread outrage that named his scrapping for what it was – mean-spirited spite. That it targeted a man like Jagan who was a class act, and who would never have condoned or committed any act of disrespect against a political colleague made it even more distasteful.
A President who because of firmly fixed partisan blinkers cannot recognise and respect the varied histories, opinions, and feelings of the population he governs in order to tack a just and equitable course will always fail.
Guyana continues to suffer Granger’s numerous failures and the stamps’ scrapping created an uproar because it was so puerile and unnecessary except that Granger saw it as another opportunity to use his presidential powers to hurt the Indian Guyanese community for whom Jagan is a national symbol without equal.
The centennial has been commemorated – even without the centenary stamps – with events and press articles that reflected on Jagan’s life as a political leader. Some analysts and historians were laudatory while others viewed him as flawed, especially for holding fast to his Marxist ideology even to the detriment of his own political career and plans for Guyana’s development.
It is paradoxical that a man who stayed true to his beliefs is the one being faulted for losing out to a Machiavellian nemesis, Forbes Burnham, who went on to preside over the country’s destruction. If winning is everything, no matter the means, then Jagan’s major flaw was, perhaps, that he was too principled and straightforward for political gamesmanship.
Whatever his faults, he commanded the national heights when he championed workers’ rights, fought against colonial exploitation and paved the way for independence, and founded a political party that continues to play a major role in our nation’s development.
His humility, honesty, charisma and ‘starboy’ looks made him much loved and admired. He was a true man of the people and no other political leader has yet matched him in this regard.
Thousands of citizens of every race, ethnicity, religion and political persuasion lined the streets to pay their last respects in March 1997 when his funeral procession bore him to his cremation site and final resting place at Babu Jaan. Such an outpouring of grief for a national figure had never been seen before, or since.
The truth is we do not need stamps to remind us of Cheddi Jagan because he lives on in the hearts of thousands who honour him for his contributions to our country, for the sacrifices he made, and for his moral and political leadership.
He will be remembered long after petty men with their petty jealousies are completely forgotten.
