Dear Editor,
On President Cheddi’s birth anniversary on March 22, I would like to remind Guyanese of a very important concept which Dr. Jagan came to realize as a real solution to our internal politics, an idea which former President Carter of the USA, helped to formulate for our country. That concept was that after general elections, there should be a genuine sharing of power and as Jagan said many times: “winner does not take all”.
Recently, we all saw a picture, widely circulated, of Presidents’ Ali and Maduro, shaking hands and smiling broadly, and that’s good for all of us but we have to wonder if Opposition Leader, Mr. Norton, is more of a threat to Guyana than Maduro. How come President Ali has time to meet, smile and shake hands with Maduro, knowing full well that somewhere along the way, a “deal” has to be struck to avoid an invasion and seizure of Guyana’s land by Maduro’s army. Can’t a deal be struck with Mr. Norton to resolve our local political stalemate with smiles and handshakes by both men? Check out the teachers strike and the dire consequences for our children – one example of not working together.
Editor, why, with almost an evenly split population along racial and political lines, can’t we, Guyanese, find a way, faced with growing wealth and prosperity, to come together as a real ‘One Guyana’ with a shared coalition government involving any party with at least a certain percentage (10%?) of the general election’s vote? Happiness and joy would descend like bright sunshine on the Guyanese people and concepts like rigging of elections, corruption and nepotism, care for the poor, crime and joblessness, etc., will all fade into the background as we advance to a better life for all. The Carter plan (for shared governance) should have been implemented years ago and President Cheddi, who directly interacted with Carter, definitely wanted such a plan to succeed; but for him, time ran out and those who succeeded him, along with the opposition, conveniently forgot Jimmy Carter’s plan, in their unitary quest for total power and influence, even with a one seat majority, as we have seen for a while.
Editor, the Carter Plan included constitutional reform and good governance: the world today is in a grievous state and with our incoming riches, our low population, our expansive natural resources, our hard working English speaking people and most importantly, unity – we can be an example for other countries to follow if only we can share power and work to build trust with each other. Cheddi Jagan, if he were alive today, would have embraced the sharing of power but would have insisted on various watchdogs (foreign and local) to safeguard all protocols and agreements between all parties.
Jagan always fought against foreign domination of our economy, ending corruption and ‘squandermania’ of government resources in our country and the preservation of basic human, religious and civil rights. Only with a united front against all threats to our borders, and thus to our wealth, respect for each other and love for our country can we really have the true concept of ‘One Guyana’. We don’t want the corruption, nepotism and ‘squandermania’ which occurred in Malaysia when that country used the slogan ‘One Malaysia’ two decades ago – let us make this something genuine, by sharing the wealth and power – a real tribute to President Cheddi.
Sincerely,
Cheddi (Joey) Jagan(Jr.)
