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Dr. Cheddi Jagan’s ideas continue to have relevance in contemporary society

Mar 22, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor,

March 22, 2025 marks the 107th birth anniversary of former President Dr. Cheddi Jagan. Dr. Jagan played a key role in the independence struggle of Guyana and was elected the first Chief Minister of Guyana, after the PPP swept the polls in the 1953 elections, the first that was held under universal adult suffrage. The PPP won 18 of the 24 seats in the Legislative Assembly but the government was overthrown after a mere six months in office following the suspension of the constitution by the British Government.

The PPP went on to win elections in 1957 and 1961 until a change of the electoral system saw its removal from power in 1964. Actually, the system of proportional representation was imposed by the British Government after the parties could not agree on an electoral formula for the 1964 elections. The PPP had insisted on the continuation of the first-past- the post system as practised in Britain and all the countries of the British Commonwealth but the PNC and the United Force led by Forbes Burnham and Peter D’aguiar respectively wanted proportional representation which would allow for the formation of a coalition government. That was a carefully engineered plot by western vested interests to remove the PPP from government ahead of the granting of political independence.

The British government had earlier promised that the party that won the 1961 elections would take the country to independence status but reneged on its promise after the PPP won the elections. It was not until the PPP was removed from power in 1964 that independence was finally granted to Guyana under a PNC-UF coalition government.

The PNC-UF coalition government collapsed in 1967, a year ahead of the 1968 elections by which time, the PNC took full control of the elections machinery and rigged its way to another term in what could be described as the first rigged elections in the country’s history.

For twenty-eight years, Dr. Jagan and the PPP was kept in the political wilderness until democracy was finally restored to the country on October 5, 1992, thanks to a relentless struggle waged by Dr. Jagan and the PPP with support from the international community, notably the United States through the instrumentality of the Carter Centre.

There are some who blame Dr. Jagan for being kept on the political periphery during those 28 years, even though Dr. Jagan and the PPP had won all democratic elections from 1953 to 1961 and was clearly the democratic choice of the Guyanese electorate. It is a case of blaming the ‘victim’ and not those who were responsible for keeping him out of power through undemocratic means.

Whatever else can be said of Dr. Jagan, he was not someone who was prepared to abandon principles for narrow political gains. He never wanted power other than through constitutional and democratic means. The records will show that even with limited powers and his hands tied behind his back, he managed to score significant economic and social gains during the 1957-64 period which was given new and fresh impetus after the October 5, 1992 elections which the PPP won by a comfortable majority of the votes. Dr. Jagan became the first democratically elected Executive President in post-independent Guyana.

Dr. Jagan’s ideas continue to have relevance in contemporary society, especially in the context of growing poverty in the world and heightened global tension. He was a strong advocate for world peace and a new global human order which was in fact adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. His strong advocacy for debt write-offs for highly indebted nations such as Guyana and for compensation for our standing forests and for an economic and social justice will be remembered for generations to come.

Hydar Ally

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