Dear Editor,
Bob Marley sang, “Better to die fighting for freedom than be a prisoner all the days of your life.” Despite gaining independence from Great Britain in 1966 to claim sovereignty, Guyana was denied the blessings of what true deliverance meant to be relieved from the grasp of the colonial masters. Guyanese ended up in the clutches of a callous conniver who morphed to become a corrupt criminal, until his ironic death in 1985. But he became an iconic sore sight for those who think they will survive from an end in order to live forever.
Guyanese had to endure to fight an internal battle to remove the knee of despotism from the necks of Guyanese, as the tyranny of the PNC led by dictator Burnham suffocated any hope of democracy. After 28 years of gruesome PNC hardship, Guyana was able to breathe a sigh of relief and strive towards recovery for the next 23 years under the astute leadership of the PPP/C government.
J R R Tolkein wrote, “Not all those who wander are lost.”
Dr. Cheddi Jagan, who was banished for 28 years by the PNC to “Banbas,” returned successfully with the PPP in 1992 to reclaim the Government, after winning the much challenging election in 1992. A much-demurred President Hoyte had to rescind the PNC’s ruthless reluctancy and venomous violence, and caved in to the US advice to recognize and accept the unquestionable winner (the PPP), as the new Administrator.
Former US President Jimmy Carter himself led the Carter team to observe the election and to deal with the PNC” “hooliganism,” as the PNC Party took to the streets in Georgetown with their thugs engaged in illegal activities to protest and prevent Dr. Jagan and the PPP from being declared the new government.
In that perilous period, Hoyte and the PNC were in the safety net of all the armed forces, and the PPP protection was poignantly precarious. But a call from Carter to his President, George Bush, straightened the wavering and intolerable vehemence of the diabolic PNC.
The texture of emancipation changed with a different shade of freedom in 2015 when Granger and his PNC party narrowly recouped the governance by winning a questionable election — a challenged result which remains unheard in the court to date. From 2015 to 2020, the irascible PNC party absconded from the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr, “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.”
Instead, they unleashed a path of archaic animosity and executed a plan of destruction from day one, much to the chagrin of Guyanese, especially those from their embarrassed constituents. Crowning themselves with loyalty to royalty, the impoverished PNC band of imposters improvised the art of deceit to disfigure the 23 years of PPP/C glorious gains and to generate the next five years in glamorous galore for only the boys and girls in the PNC Party. A positive three-letter potent word, “yes,” from one of their own (not their kit and kin), brought them to their trembling knees and back to their crumbling world, as their cushioned blanket was miraculously yanked from under their firm feet in December 2018.
Guyana is currently in the mood for Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. This state of mind has not changed the stage since 2nd August, 2020, when the PPP/C government was sworn in legally to legitimately manage the affairs of the country, after convincingly winning the General and Regional Elections as per the will of the people. But this subtle subtlety may become unsettled as, daily, insurgents internally and externally, attempt to tarnish the image of the country, the government and the people.
Miscreants undermine the peace, progress and prosperity of the people and nation by peddling false information.
It was an uphill task to win the 2020 mother-of-all elections because, the former PNC Government attempted to rig the election in front the eyes of the whole, wide world, and even refused to vacate their seats even after a recount of the votes validated the PPP/C victory. It was the diligence and vigilance of an entire international community which brought the PNC to its defeat and ordered them to do the right thing by respecting the law and acknowledging their loss by conceding.
From day two in August 2020, a rejuvenated, young and fully composed President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, after being sworn-in, hit the ground running and not walking, started working and not skylarking, and became proactive and not passive. With the constraints of a pandemic, provoking priority, the consternation of a pilfered Treasury, supporting bankruptcy, the contamination of a pampered bureaucracy, accruing uneasiness and, the corruption of a pained PNC, brewing vengeance, the knitted PPP/C Executive, functioned as a united team determined to overcome all obstacles and impediments. They were prepared for the worst scenario as reality slowly but surely unfolded as the days to come went by.
Man is culpable of making major mistakes and capable of minimizing instead of maximizing mistakes. Mahatma Gandhi confirmed, “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” The PPP/C government has achieved most of their promises made in their 2020 election campaign. Their manifesto is almost exhausted with all the projects they have accomplished in their 4-year transformative execution which has catapulted Guyana to unsurmountable heights, envied by the rest of the world. The PPP/C has abstained from duplicating the mistakes undertaken by the PNC during their 5 years of pompous and bombastic reign of arrogant irritability.
The PPP/C has been on the defence, and not to offend the nation by slipping through the cracks. Armed with the suite of resilience and the tool of vision, President Ali and the PPP/C Government have managed to harness the confidence of the country and win the worthiness of the world to establish freedom, justice, honour and hope, as a dutiful servant and patriotic party to this nation and the people, for a “One Guyana.”
Yours respectfully,
Jai Lall
