Last week, on March 22, 2018, we celebrated the 100th birth anniversary of Cheddi Jagan. He was not an ordinary man and was not only a former President of Guyana. He was, for the majority of Guyanese, the Father of the Nation. Even President Granger concedes that Cheddi was a “Founder of the Nation”. His most ardent enemies agree that Cheddi earned the right to be considered the Father of the Nation. For the vast majority of Guyanese, Cheddi was the Guyanese man of the 20th Century and certainly was the greatest Guyanese that ever lived. He was a special man, a great man. It is fitting, therefore, that the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre (CJRC) agree with the Guyana Post Office (GPOC) for the issuance of commemorate stamps for Cheddi’s 100th birth anniversary.
The GPOC, with a tradition of issuing stamps for special occasions, agreed that the request made by the CJRC is within the scope and legal requirements the GPOC operates under. The Minister under whom the GPOC operates, Minister Cathy Hughes, agreed and approved. Under a legal agreement, the GPOC agreed that the stamps would be issued and available for a special event on March 22 to commemorate Cheddi’s 100th birth anniversary. However, the GPOC did not issue the stamps as agreed. They informed the CJRC and everyone else that they would have to query the failure to make the stamps available on March 22 with the Ministry of the Presidency.
The Ministry of the Presidency has nothing to do with the agreement and has nothing to do with the operation of the GPOC. Neither the President nor the Ministry of the Presidency has any legal right to stop the GPOC from issuing the stamps and cannot quash the issuing of the Cheddi Jagan 100th birth anniversary commemorative stamps. At no time has the management, the Board and the relevant Minister express any reservation about issuing the stamps. It was not a secret arrangement. In fact, there was a big announcement by the GPOC itself and the Minister since February that the stamps will be issued. The big secret has been that the President and the Ministry of the Presidency intervened and torpedoed the issuance of the stamps.
Exposed, the Ministry of the Presidency now declared that it will issue a stamp to represent symbols that reflect Guyana, including stamps to observe former Presidents, Cheddi Jagan and Arthur Chung, who have 100th anniversary of their births in 2018. They claimed that issuing of stamps must comply with certain standards and must emphasise Guyanese symbols. What standard or standards did the issuance of the commemorative stamp to mark Cheddi’s 100th birth anniversary contravene? What were the standards that informed the issuance of stamps for Forbes Burnham in 1970? Since independence, the GPOC has issued stamps many times, how would have the Cheddi Jagan stamps not have met standards that these others met? Is it that Cheddi is disqualified because he is the Founder of the People’s Progressive Party?
The requested stamps were to honour the life and times of Cheddi Jagan, his contributions to the history, the independence and the political, social and cultural development of our country, not merely the 100th birth anniversary of this great man. He was a public servant in our country for more than 55 years. Not only was he the Guyanese man of the 20th Century, he was our candidate for the Caribbean Man of the 20th Century. He was also one of the heroes of the global movement for independence for former colonial countries. Cheddi was the first ever freely, fairly, democratically elected President of Guyana. He is the creator of the New Global Human Order, an initiative of the United Nations.
I have no reservation for Guyana issuing a stamp to mark the 100th birth anniversary of Arthur Chung, the first President of Guyana. But the issuance of the stamps for Cheddi’s 100th birth anniversary is substantially different. That Burnham had a stamp in 1970 and that there might be another stamp for Burnham’s 100th birth anniversary do not bother me. I did not in 1070 or now or anytime in the future have an appetite to object to any kind of Burnham commemorative stamp. But to abrogate the issuance of the Cheddi Jagan 100th birth anniversary commemorative stamp on false premises is just malicious, egregious, vindictive, mean, insulting and petty.
