Posted January 31st. 2003. - Special Feature by David Hinds

GUYANA: ANOTHER LOST OPPORTUNITY?

Today I reprint the first of a series of articles written between 1993 and 1998 in the Caribbean Daylight newspaper. Hopefully they would tell us how far we have come from then and test how much the writer was on target or not. This article was written in May 1997-almost six years ago.

Its now almost four weeks since Dr Cheddi Jagan passed away. As is the case when a leader of high stature dies while still on the frontline, the nation is allowed the opportunity to reflect on where it has been and where it intends to go. Although it is too early to gauge the extent to which Guyana has begun this process, what is clear is that this is what the country ought to be doing at the moment. As many commentators have been saying since Dr Jagan's death, the most crucial issue in the country is National Unity. In fact, to my mind, this has been the most persistent issue on Guyana's political agenda for the last 50 years. It is one, which Dr Jagan has had to confront throughout his long career, and one, which stared the nation straight in the face during the period of national mourning following his death.

For me, the life of Dr Jagan would be wasted if Guyana continues to ignore the racial division that has been the country's worst enemy. With all due respect to Dr Jagan, the area of racial unity is one on which he did not score heavily. That he did not do more to aid the process of racial healing was a result of the overriding need to win elections. It is my view that Dr Jagan accepted the race-competition formulae, not because he was a racist, but because he saw it as real politick. He felt, it seems, that once he got into the office he would be able to use the Presidency as a bully pulpit to crusade for racial unity. He obviously found out that this strategy was wrong, and towards the end of his life he began to talk about the "Mandela" formulae of power sharing. His own National Patriotic Front formulae of "winner-does-not-take-all" turned out to be mere tactical talk from a frustrated opposition party. But Dr Jagan, who had a sense of history and his role and place in that process, must have known that his legacy to Guyana would be seriously tainted if it entered the 21st century as two warring factions.

The PPP, therefore, has to make a choice of whether to continue the race-based electoral strategy or strive for genuine national unity, bearing in mind that in doing the latter it could compromise its electoral majority. To my mind its first political moves do not send any signal that it intends to go after national unity, at least in the short term. The appointment of Mrs. Jagan as defacto leader, though probably reassuring for the PPP, does no do the cause of national healing any good. The fact that the PNC has reacted bitterly to her appointment should not be ignored, for whether one likes the PNC or not, that party is crucial to any national consensus.

The PPP is caught in a dilemma: Should it put the interest of party or nation first? Some may foolishly argue that they can be done simultaneously. I say foolishly because it is abundantly clear that the priorities of the PPP are at variance with the national agenda on this most important issue. I humbly submit that if Dr Jagan were unable to use high office to effectively deal with the race problem, Mrs. Jagan would find it ten times harder for reasons that are obvious to anyone who has followed Guyanese politics.

That the PPP is spending an enormous amount of time trying to sell Mrs. Jagan's appointment or defending her from the "vicious attacks" is ample testimony that the party understands the riskiness of the situation. But as they say politics is full of risk even when it is the future of the country that is at risk. The great outpouring of national unity during the period of mourning for the late President is being wasted. Or perhaps the demonstration of grief by the African Guyanese was misinterpreted. Was it a genuine pitch for unity, or was it mere respect for a fallen leader, or both? Did the PPP consider the sensitivities of this section of the population when it made its initial moves? Perhaps by retaining Mr. Sam Hinds as president, it did consider the sensitivities of blacks. However, anybody with some political sense knows that the real story lies in the not so distant future when Mr. Hinds would have to give way to Mrs. Jagan.

Finally, I am afraid that the PPP's early choices have given the PNC a ready platform for the upcoming elections, something the PNC did not seem to have before. Whether we agree or not, Mrs. Jagan's racial background and political baggage would be effectively utilized by the PNC and perhaps the GGG. This will push the Africans right back into their racial prison, and the racial saga will continue. Further, the pressure would be taken off the hitherto reluctant PNC to come to the table of national unity. They can now claim that they were ready for unity, but that willingness was undermined by the PPP.

Dr Hinds is a University Lecturer and Political Commentator and Activist. He currently teaches Political Science at Glendale College and Mt San Antonio College in California. Please send your comments on this article to dhinds6106@aol.com.

For more information about and analysis of Guyanese and Caribbean politics click here at guyanacaribbeanpolitics.com.