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The legacy of Dr. Jagan is alive and well?

Jul 16, 2008 Letters

Dear Editor,
In response to an unsigned letter captioned “Jagan’s legacy is being shunted aside” in Kaieteur News of July 7th, Mr. Mohamed Sattaur countered on July 11 that “The legacy of Dr. Jagan is alive and well.” 

He opines that his position at the Cheddi Jagan Centre provides him with information to so declare but limits that legacy to one aspect of the late president’s call for a new global human order — debt relief.    I have written elsewhere that Dr. Jagan’s New Global Human Order encapsulates in different terminology his life long ideology, one that was driven by his deep compassion for the poor. 

It may come as a surprise to some but that deep compassion for the poor is passionately held by very influential segments of Western society and it is mainly because of that that the appeal for debt relief has been somewhat successful. 

There are other aspects of Dr. Jagan’s principles that cannot be demonstrated by annual trips to Babu John or participation in activities at the Centre of which Mr. Sattaur is the Administrator.  In this short letter to the press I cannot address every aspect of Dr. Jagan’s approach to governance but will address a few issues by recalling the “lean and clean” ideal he embraced on assuming the presidency in 1992.  Is the current government “lean and clean”? 

It is most certainly not as lean as when I served for less than a dollar a year at one of Guyana’s missions during Dr. Jagan’s tenure.  Is the current government clean?   Cleanliness has many meanings but it is common knowledge in Guyana that there is widespread corruption.  The usual response to this statement is “prove it.” 

This is a fair request but some at Freedom House will remember that in the run up to the 1992 elections that brought the PPP to power a seminar was held at the party’s headquarters. 

That seminar grew out of conversations I had with Dr. Jagan and Prime Minister Hinds when they visited Canada prior to those elections.  I participated in that Freedom House seminar and interestingly I was asked to speak on corruption. 

I clearly remember making the point that while it may be difficult to convict someone of corruption (as in a court of law) it is easy to establish its existence and that is done by simply monitoring people’s lifestyles relative to their official incomes. 

As Dr. Jagan said on numerous occasions in a different context, people cannot have “Cadillac” lifestyles on “donkey cart” incomes.  Could Mr. Sattaur or any other Guyanese honestly say that there is no evidence of this in Guyana today? I am not referring only to government officials but to corruption that has flourished throughout Guyanese society under the current government.

For example, it is now being alleged that one outfit attempted to defraud the government of millions of dollars.  Do the principals of this company have any connection to any political party in Guyana? 

Cleanliness in government also extends to the treatment of those that contributed to electing it:  would Dr. Jagan’s government have shunted aside Moses Nagamootoo, Khemraj Ramjattan and others?

I cannot conclude this letter without mentioning the treatment of organised labour in Guyana.  Dr. Jagan honed his political skills in the labour movement, witnessed the suffering experienced by working people in the United States and admired government action in the form of the Wagner Act that sought to protect workers against arbitrary actions by employers. 

Isn’t it therefore part of Cheddi’s legacy that the rights of organised labour in Guyana be respected?  If so, how is it that time after time the current government has imposed settlements on public sector employees? 
As mentioned earlier, I cannot address all aspects of Dr. Jagan’s legacy in a short letter to the press but I certainly don’t believe that Guyanese should simply accept Mr. Sattaur’s word that Cheddi’s legacy is alive and well. 

Moreover, I applaud the person who wrote the unsigned letter that prompted Mr. Sattaur’s response and would like to remind all that discipline is not about remaining quiet in the face of hypocrisy.  On the contrary, discipline in the service of the people is about being truthful. 

Jang B. Singh

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