Dear Editor,
Three things have defined the PPP since its founding in 1950. These are (1) an unremitting commitment to the democratic governance of Guyana; (2) building a Guyana that is based on equality regardless of race, religion, geographical location or personal idiosyncrasies; and (3) a non-negotiable undertaking to improve the lives of all Guyanese, but especially working families and the poor.
We submit that since 1950, through the long struggles for national independence and the decades of PNC authoritarian rule , and then during the era of neoliberal globalization that has roughly followed the end of the Cold War, the key values of PPP administrations have stood the test of time. Successive leaders of the PPP/C – since the end of the era of the Jagans – Sam Hinds, Bharrat Jagdeo, Donald Ramotar, and Irfaan Ali, have been faithful to the fundamental pillars upon which the party was founded. Allow us to elaborate.
The PPP’s earliest energies were focused on national emancipation from the brutalities of colonial rule, a form of domination perpetrated through centuries of Euro-American global hegemony, much of it based on assumptions of white racial supremacy. The Guyanese people, (sans some Portuguese elements, and a scattering of the highly colonized Georgetown elite), stood together in formelting a mass movement against foreign rule, gathered as they were under the banner of PPP leadership.
The resoluteness against foreign domination was often expressed in the language of anti-imperialism, something for which Cheddi Jagan ended up paying a heavy price. First removed by Winston Churchill in 1953, foreign interference deepened its hold on the country by installing the PNC and then petted and fattened it for nearly three decades. All through this time Cheddi and Janet Jagan led a dignified struggle for free and fair elections.
Those elections came in 1992, and despite the forced migration through administrative state violence and targeted coercion of thousands of PPP supporters, the PPP/C won. After Cheddi’s death the PNC hounded Janet Jagan out of office, but not without a mighty fight by many of the people now in the leadership of the PPP. The fight to protect democracy continued in full view of the world. It was lead by General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo and the then presidential candidate Mohamed Irfaan Ali. Without these two stalwarts of the PPP, we can assure you that the rigging attempt of the APNU-AFC would have succeeded. Jagdeo and Irfaan Ali continued the fight for freedom that Cheddi and Janet Jagan began in 1950.
The PPP has always been against race and racism. All you have to do is read through the multiple books and articles by Cheddi Jagan. The point will be obvious. In fact, Jagan, and the PPP, including President Ali to this day, are often criticized for being too soft of PNC, and now the WPA racialization of politics. Many have criticized Cheddi Jagan for being too dogmatic about class, and consequently, for ignoring race and racism in the political rhetoric and practices of those who peddle regressive (rather than progressive) Black nationalism. Regressive Black nationalism and all other forms of racism have been roundly rejected by Irfaan Ali and before him, by Ramotar, Jagdeo, Hinds, and not least by Janet Jagan.
The Ali administration is challenging Guyanese of all walks of life to make it their personal responsibility to commit to a non-racial, democratic politics. More broadly, the PPP/C is absolutely open to the constitutionalizing of shared governance but only when the PNC is fully dedicated to, and has established a record of democratic values. Vice President Jagdeo noted in a press conference only days ago (March 24, 2023), that the PPP cannot enter into any partnership with the PNC until such time they embrace democratic values. We believe that one of the first steps in that direction is for the PNC and AFC to renounce a politics based on racial mobilization. In this regard, President Ali’s One Guyana is indeed a symbol. But symbols matter, and it is better to have a symbol of unity rather than one of division.
The economic outcomes that Cheddi Jagan craved are not different from what the Irfaan Ali administration is actually delivering. There are indeed differences in ideological expression, political rhetoric, and on some substantive issues such as the role of the state in the economy. Yet, the goals are the same. No one in their right mind today can claim that the best economic policy should be based on the commanding heights of the economy, or that foreign investment is simply imperialism. Cheddi Jagan himself moved away from that kind of talk, to one based more on openness to FDI, cooperation with the IFIs, and building partnerships with states that were hitherto hostile to national development strategies with significant market-correcting policies.
The accomplishments since President Ali took office should offer not only reassurance that the focus on the poor and the powerless is alive, but also that it is moving at such a pace, even Cheddi Jagan and Janet Jagan would have been astounded. Below is a snapshot of these accomplishments.
In 1992 when the PPP/C government won the first free and fair elections after decades of rigging by the PNC, Guyana inherited a bankrupt country.
In 1980, our GDP stood at US$600 million which shrunk steadily from thereon to US$374 million in 1992, with a per capita income of US$618. Effectively, in twelve years under the PNC, our GDP shrunk by US$226 million or by 38%. The total public debt in 1985 stood at $8.6 billion with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 438%. By 1992, the total stock of public debt moved from $8.6 billion to $275 billion representing a debt-to GDP ratio of 588%. This means that the total debt stock of the country was almost six times the size of our economy in 1992. Imagine what was the level of poverty in those days compared to now.
By the time the PPP/C left office in 2015, GDP had moved from US$600 million in 1992 to US$4 billion in 2014, with a per capita income of about US$5,000. In 1992 it was only US$600. The debt-to-GDP came down from almost 600% to 38% in the same period.
The foreign reserve held at the central bank in 1992 was US$15 million. In 2015 when the PPP left office, the foreign reserves stood at US$652 million.
Today, under President Irfaan Ali, GDP is now US$14 billion with a per capita income of US$17,000 and a debt to GDP of less than 30%, and as of December 2022, our foreign reserves stood at US$939 million.
Cheddi Jagan would be thrilled with the policies of the Irfaan Ali administration. He would be proud to know that a house is now within reach of a young teacher or civil servant; that all school children are getting a cash grant; that thousands have ($40,000 monthly) part-time jobs to supplement their household income; that young professionals can continue their education with GOAL scholarships; that the price of electricity and cooking gas will drop by more than 50% by 2025; that the income tax threshold is now in excess of $80,000; that the Ali administration removed the punitive taxes levied on agriculture and mining during the APNU-AFC tenure; and that the local content policies related to oil and gas is specifically intended to protect Guyanese citizens from being bullied.
Cheddi Jagan and Janet Jagan struggled with Guyanese indebtedness. If they were around, they would be proud that the current administration has pursued policies that find this country in the black. And finally, Cheddi and Janet Jagan would be proud that their own commitment to environmentally sustainable developed is being pursued with great vigor and corresponding economic rewards, based on Jagdeo’s LCDS of 2009/2010, followed up by LCDS 2030.
We are sure that the current PPP/C leadership offers solid continuity of the vision, ethics, and economic policies of Cheddi Jagan. To the critics we say, please note that Cheddi Jagan himself would not have wanted his party’s rhetoric of the 1950s, 60s and 70s to remain unchanged in 2023.
Sincerely,
Dr. Randolph Persaud & Joel Bhagwandin
