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The President who never was

May 12, 2015 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
It always amazes me, particularly during election campaign season, that the PPP never seems to mention the name Hugh Desmond Hoyte. It is as though he never existed.
During every elections campaign, the PPP resurrects Forbes Burnham as the bogey man who is blamed for multiple perceived ills and injustices too numerous to count. The PPP/C speakers then paint Burnham as the Godzilla who ran the PNC and wrecked all that was good and pleasant in Guyana. But, stick a pin! Forbes Burnham died in 1985 and was succeeded by Hugh Desmond Hoyte. This latter gentleman was Guyana’s PNC President from 1985 to 1992.
In the annals of Guyana’s political history, as written up by the PPP/C, Guyana must have run itself during this seven-year period.
Of all people, former President Jagdeo should remember Desmond Hoyte from the days he (Jagdeo) worked at the State Planning Secretariat. Hoyte told me many times that he remembered Jagdeo well from those days.
It was during the Hoyte years as President that Barama and Omai Gold Mines put down their huge investments in Guyana, to name just these two foreign direct investors who paved the way for the many investments that followed in the mining and forestry sectors.
It was Hoyte who gave the world Iwokrama and paved the way for Jagdeo to finesse recognition as a Champion of the Earth. In 1992, it was Hoyte who paved the way for the elections that brought the PPP in to power. As a direct result, most, if not all, of our present day nouveaux riches and parvenus indirectly owe their staggering wealth to Desmond Hoyte’s embrace of free and fair elections.
At the apex of this rich list I place the politician who was able to discard his tight, faded, blue shirtjac in favour of designer suits and handmade ties. Hoyte did not build a huge mansion in Sparendaam, he did not own huge properties in Queenstown, Central Georgetown or Subryanville opposite the Russian Embassy, nor did he own luxury apartments in New York in prime up-market areas.
Small wonder the PPP never mentions Hoyte—the President who never was!
F. Hamley Case

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