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The day the PPP boycotted Carifesta
The PNC has officially adopted a policy of boycott of Carifesta. It reminds us of the 1980 Olympics. The Americans stayed away because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
The next Olympics ended up in Los Angeles and the Soviets returned the compliment. Mr. Corbin, the current leader of the PNC was a major player in the youth arm of the PNC in 1972 when Carifesta was invented by the PNC Government.
No doubt when he heard that the PPP Government was putting on the show in the country where it first started, a cynical smile enveloped his visage. He knew his time for revenge had come.
The PPP boycotted Carifesta 1972 over an issue that even if it wasn’t there, would not have made a difference. President Burnham, in his announcement of Carifesta, stated that he would build a National Cultural Centre to coincide with Carifesta. The finance would come from the Indian Immigration Fund.
This was a large sum that was left back from the colony’s allocation to finance the immigrants’ return to India. Dr. Jagan was livid. He tabled a motion in Parliament to have Burnham’s decision debated.
The PPP’s contention was that the money was not the property of the Government but belonged to the East Indians of Guyana.
The PPP’s argument was that the Indian Immigration Fund was money specifically designed to alleviate the suffering of the indentured servants and what was left of it belonged to their descendants.
In fairness to the PPP, it never requested that the cash be given away to the East Indians or that the PPP must manage the collection. It wanted the money to be spent on something that was exclusively for East Indians.
Burnham was angry. His position was that the colony of British Guiana was now independent and what was in the treasury of the colonial government became the property of the Guyanese state. He said that it was money that had now come into the possession of the Guyanese Government.
Fast forward the tape to President Jagdeo’s press conference on Thursday held to discuss the Carifesta ticket nightmare. Mr. Jagdeo told the media that he cannot allow a foreign grant to be given to five investors of the Ogle airport. Such funds should be for the entire country.
Burnham was emphatic that the National Cultural Centre would be a Carifesta masterpiece. He went ahead and used the immigration finances.
Important to note; the PNC in 2006 said that the NIS belonged to the people who put their money into it. But the PPP Government went ahead and invested NIS revenues in the construction of the Berbice Bridge.
The PPP formed a front group named the Guyana Council for Indian Organisations (GCIO). It officially proclaimed a boycott of Carifesta and the 1973 anniversary of Republic Day. The PPP as the leading unit in GCIO had to go ahead with the abstention call.
Carifesta went ahead despite the opposition staying away. During Carifesta, Dr. Jagan took a holiday on the Black Sea in the Soviet Union.
Carifesta was a success for Burnham. It ran from August 25 -15 September. It attracted the participation of 28 countries with 63 cultural events spread over the entire territory of Guyana.
Carifesta was the turning point for the image of Burnham in the Caribbean. So huge was its success that Burnham was generally seen in the Anglo-phone West Indies as the region’s leading politician.
When the 1973 rigged election came, the PPP could not have got a single Caricom leader to denounce the process.
This is where it did not matter if the immigration fund was the issue. Because of the election controversy stirring in the air, the PPP would have boycotted Carifesta anyway.
What is interesting to note as one looks back in the Mirror newspapers at the PPP when it was in opposition, is that one finds opposition to almost all of Burnham’s policies including the issue of national ID cards, the establishment of the NIS, the sugar levy, the Mazaruni hydro power scheme.
Now in power, the PPP celebrates the long life of Carifesta. It spends NIS money in building a bridge across the Berbice River. It made use of the vast amount of cash in the sugar levy for twelve years after it came to power in 1992.
These were the very people that called a strike against the sugar levy that lasted 135 days. And the Government has approved private investment in hydro power.
Mr. Corbin might be saying that he got sweet revenge in two ways. He returned the boycott favour and he is overjoyed that many of the PNC’s policies the PPP is glad to embrace. So much for good guys versus bad guys in Guyanese politics.
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