Washington and Beijing committed to accommodating Guyana’s legitimate concerns and national interests

Aug 30, 2022 Letters

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Dear Editor,

It all began with the arrival of the Robertson Commission of 1954 following the suspension of the British Guiana constitution in 1953.

‘The Commission was established by the (British) colonial office not to determine whether the suspension of the constitution was justified, but merely to indicate what was to be done’ (Cheddi Jagan: ‘(The West on Trial’ pp. 164) Dr. Jagan went on; ‘its (the Commission’s) report white washed the suspension of the constitution, posed the idea of racial antagonism by subtly referring to Indian domination, and sowed the seeds of a split in the PPP. It recommended an indefinite ‘period of marking time’ so long as the PPP maintained its leadership and policies, and suggested that the Burnham wing must break-away from the party if British Guiana was to have an early resumption of constitutional life.’(ibid pp 164). That was the first of such insidious messages.

There is no other chapter in our political history where one can find a more glaring example where the colonial office, through its representatives, sent such a blunt message calling on certain members of the then PPP to break-away from the party.

The Commission’s message revealed how alert its members were to the prevailing ethnic, political, ideological and class differences, not yet divisions, amongst the leaders of the national movement at that time.

The Commission apparently reasoned that a split in the PPP would be in the best interest of the Empire because it would, on the one hand, separate the more accommodating and moderate elements in the party from those who they identified as the ‘extremists or communists’ and on the other hand, that a period of marking time would help spawn the break-away faction.

The strategy of the Colonial-sponsored commission was to allow internal differences to fester and to encourage the ‘Burnham wing’ of the PPP to establish a political party whose leaders would be cultivated in such a manner that they would see eye-to-eye with the colonial authorities at home and abroad.

LFS Burnham, one of the leaders of the PPP at that time, took the Commission’s message seriously and began in earnest to transform the message into a living reality. Thus, in pursuance of that goal Burnham engineered a split in the PPP in 1955 and, after a number of failed manoeuvres, established his own People’s National Congress (PNC) in 1957.

The split in the national movement was the first manifestation of a message from external forces aimed at persuading gullible Guyanese who were favourably disposed to act as local Quislings in support of an externally driven policy to manipulate the ethnic, political and ideological differences within the PPP and to set the future Guyana on a path that could prove irreversible.

While some of the national leaders at the time recognised the message as a means to divide and rule, others were dazzled by the tantalising prospect of being catapulted into government. To them, the long-term implications of the message did not matter. Objectively, the splitters fell prey to a larger strategic game that was being played out externally.

Since then, messages from Washington and London containing various texts pertaining to their exclusive national interests have, from time to time been transmitted to the authorities in Guyana. On some occasions, the messages were returned to sender while in other instances, the messages were received with ‘glad tidings of great joy.’

In other instances, messages seeking help were dispatched from Georgetown at a time when the country was mired in political crisis and had to be resolved in the end, by both bearers and recipients of the message.

President Ali’s recent visits abroad and his conversations with his counterparts were no exception to the ebb and flow of messages between capitals.

Messages reflecting Guyana’s and other friendly country’s individual interests could be discerned partially from interviews given by the President himself as well as from the those emanating from his counterparts. These messages should be neither overestimated nor underestimated.

So when GHK Lall writes in S/N edition of August 24, 2022 that ‘there is clear and convincing evidence the Americans are on the move, and the Chinese are being moved out of contention,’ one is left to wonder how his conclusion jives with the Ali administration’s publicly stated interest in attracting investors from all countries from both the east and west.

We Guyanese did not need GHK Lall to tell us that since our independence as a nation, the US continues to be one of our country’s valued partners in development. Suffice it to say the relationship has had its up and downs, though at this historic stage, our country’s developmental thrust should be viewed in a totally different context.

The GOG has highlighted its interest in partnering with all countries in pursuit of its development goals including the strengthening of democracy and good governance, establishment of a knowledge-based economy, food security, public safety and security, climate change, a development mix that includes infrastructure and economic transformation, as well as investment in health and education.

The Americans it would seem want to play a greater part in Guyana’s economic development through increased investment in social and physical infrastructure. And, as we all know, the strategic objective is to counter China’s growing influence in the Caribbean.

As regard the view that …‘the Chinese are on the move out of contention,’ Mr. Lall should know that from a big picture perspective; ‘China is close to achieving global economic equivalence to the US. It knows that opportunity will follow and that it has a political system that can sustain over decades a hard to match approach that responds to small states’ need to rapidly upgrade infrastructure to support economic growth.’ (D. Jessop: The Long View S/N 9.11.’21)

This brings us to the recent signing in May this year of the US$260 million contract between the Government of Guyana and China Railway Construction (Caribbean) Company and China Railway Construction Bridge Engineering Bureau Group Company Limited for the construction of the New Demerara Harbour Bridge, the largest public works project thus far in Guyana.

According to the Chinese Ambassador, ‘The signing of the contract illustrates the fruitful relationship between the two countries and strengthens bilateral ties.’

In addition, the Ambassador revealed in June this year that ‘Trade between Guyana and China increased by 213 percent over the past five years reaching US$710 million in 2021.’

In the circumstances, to claim that ‘the Americans are on the move in and the Chinese are on the move out of contention’ seems to be not only a hard sell but a misrepresentation of the facts.

The messages from Washington and Beijing to Guyana in respect to partnering with Guyana for development, while competitive in nature, envisages both countries committed to accommodating Guyana’s legitimate concerns and national interests.

Yours faithfully,
Clement J. Rohee

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