Donald Ramotar will not have another opportunity to make history

Aug 25, 2013 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Let us leave out the short stint at the presidency that Mr. Samuel Hinds and Mrs. Janet Jagan had. They just passed unnoticed. That leaves four Presidents. Of the two, Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan have gone down in history. Untold numbers in this country believe that Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan form a big part of Guyana’s history therefore their legacies are large. They have large amounts of detractors, but neither President Desmond Hoyte nor President Bharrat Jagdeo has eclipsed the way Guyanese feel about Burnham and Jagan.
Of Hoyte, the nation is divided. Sections of the nation see him as great, others don’t think so. But it is difficult to reject the proposition that he has a large legacy too. If I was to offer an opinion, I would say Hoyte is just below Burnham and Jagan. The Guyanese people recognize Hoyte as the politician that opened up Guyana to the modern world after a period of political and economic depression.
Mr. Bharat Jagdeo had twelve years of power and it is really incomprehensible to think that after twelve years, this very young president has not moved way beyond Burnham, Jagan and Hoyte. I am absolutely sure that Mr. Jagdeo is living every day in mental agony that he has not written his name in Caribbean history. He had all the opportunities to do it, but why he did not cannot be discussed in a short column like this.
Professor Clive Thomas has made an astute observation that Mr. Jagdeo was indeed interested in leaving a legacy and he chose to go down in history as the President that gave Guyana hydropower. I tend to agree with the esteemed professor. I do not think there is a Prime Minister or President that enters the office of power and not say to him/herself – I am going to do something by which this country will remember me. Now quite a number of them did not succeed, but I believe they had that thought when they governed.
Professor Thomas said Jagdeo chose hydropower. It may or may not allow him a legacy from which he can enter the history books. What cannot be denied before we leave this discussion on Jagdeo is that he had the opportunity to be among Forbes Burnham, Errol Barrow, Michael Manley, Eric Williams, Cheddi Jagan, Vere Bird and George Price, among others, in the CARICOM region.
Enter Donald Ramotar. I cannot accept that Mr. Ramotar is so short-sighted that he believes that he will be the PPP’s candidate in 2016. Even if Mr. Ramotar fights fiercely to retain the candidacy, it will create formidable divisions in the PPP structure itself. Two scenarios are likely to emerge. One is that Mr. Ramotar gets his way but the party is so fractured that it will have profound electoral consequences. Alternatively, the party gives Mr. Ramotar an ultimatum that he will accept.
No one knows if Mr. Ramotar will even serve out his first term if there is a crescendo for holding early elections. Whether Donald Ramotar stays until 2016 or goes before, this most senior PPP leader must know that time waits for no one. He has a pathway of history waiting for him and he should walk boldly in that direction. Mr. Ramotar could join Burnham and Jagan and Hoyte or even go beyond them and even carve his name in Caribbean history.
If you look at the Caribbean after the immediate post-colonial leaders moved off, no notable names show up with the possible exception of P. J. Patterson of Jamaica. I think Caribbean people would choose him in a survey if they have to pick a Caribbean leader from the nineties onwards.
What can Ramotar do to carve his name on the face of Guyanese history? The book of doables is large, but one old cancer stands out – political and ethnic unity. Guyana is not going to go into the future, will not have a future, its people will remain pessimistic, its people will forever wander around the world (with the Caribbean always suspicious that they want to stay illegally in their country) until we arrive at some form of unity among ourselves.
It does not have to be power-sharing, although that is a preferred road. An attempt of a short period of a national government involving more than just the political parties should be given a try. Whatever the shape, Mr. Ramotar should boldly move in the direction of inclusive governance as a matter of priority. The PPP and PNC just have to sit down and work together. It is the last hope.

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Donald Ramotar will not have another opportunity to make history

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