Dear Editor,
Anyone intimately, or even cursorily, familiar with our nation’s founding father, our former President and my grandfather, Dr Cheddi Berret Jagan can effortlessly attest to his modest upbringing and humble, down-to-earth nature. To even begin refuting this point is an exercise in futility and quite simply, a fool’s errand.
Ask the Guyanese people and they will tell you that Dr Jagan is their champion, being a man of his people, for his people and with his people. Dr Jagan was born and raised in Port Mourant, Berbice under poverty-stricken conditions, first wearing a pair of shoes when he was a teenager.
He had the vision to recognize that to his people, it’s the smaller things that matter most times. Perhaps the most defining feature of his greatness lies in his understanding of his people; he lived like the overwhelming majority of his people, that is to say, living day-to-day in an unpretentious, unassuming manner wherein the simple things in life (clothes, food, belongings, accommodation, amenities, etc) were not only sufficient but were pleasurable and satisfying.
He wanted nothing which was not practical or functional; he had no use for the ‘finer’ things in life, and he desired no accumulation of wealth and frowned with disdain on squandering and wastefulness in every instance (especially seeing his grandchildren waste even a single morsel of food). Dr Jagan was truly utilitarian in this sense, because unlike countless others around the world, underlying the basis of his political drive was not a concern with personal gain or ambition, but rather, with working in furtherance of the full realization of the best interests of all his Guyanese brothers and sisters, irrespective of race, ethnicity, culture, gender, religion, etc.
This is how Dr Jagan, my grandfather, lived. This is why, although on March 6, 1997, he departed from his Guyanese people in physical form, he will live on in their hearts and the hearts of successive generations, until the end of time.
I have been back home for a little over a year now and I have been fortunate enough to enjoy several experiences and conversations with the man who will be responsible for moving Guyana forward through a comprehensive modernized framework, our future President who will lead our nation for the next ten years, Mr Donald Ramotar. What I have observed and can tell you, without a modicum of hesitation or reservation, is that Mr Ramotar honourably follows in the tradition of Dr Jagan’s modest upbringing and humble, down-to-earth nature.
One of the first things I noticed about Mr Ramotar was that he dresses very similarly to my grandfather in a simple and modest yet socially professional manner which portrays that he is on the same wavelength as his Guyanese people. In fact, the first time I visited Mr Ramotar at Freedom House, I observed that his PPP/C General Secretary office, the very same office Dr Jagan occupied as General Secretary, remains wholly untouched from that time.
This is a noteworthy observation about the man who will move our country forward, because it evinces Mr Ramotar’s unfettered commitment to and respect/admiration for his hero as well as his implicit recognition that leadership must reflect humility. In essence, the physical embodiment of the man Mr Ramotar is, in itself, a tribute and homage to our founding-father, Dr Jagan.
Mr Ramotar is a simple man, who is seemingly unconcerned with the frivolousness of splendour and majesty.
Consequently, the PPP/C was wise in selecting him as its presidential candidate as he is the true embodiment of one of the overarching sensitivities the PPP/C has always stood for: humility, modesty, decorum and unpretentiousness. I thank Mr Ramotar for providing the PPP/C with another option to carry on the humble, modest, down-to-earth image of my grandfather, Dr Cheddi Berret Jagan, and for taking the helm of the PPP/C leadership while still remaining committed to our hero’s lessons. May God Always Bless Dr Jagan and Mr Ramotar.
Yours faithfully,
Cheddi Berret Jagan II