Jagan stepping down
by Rickey Singh
AN ERA ENDS in Guyana politics on Wednesday with the resignation of President Janet Jagan. Her Minister of Finance, Bharrat Jagdeo [please note: link provided by LOSP web site], 35, will also be sworn in by her that day as the nation’s new head of state and government. This dramatic development, of which the Guyanese people officially learnt yesterday evening in a nation-wide broadcast by the president, has resulted from a mild heart attack the 78-year-old widow of President Cheddi Jagan suffered last month. It also comes amid lingering doubts about her physical fitness to maintain the heavy responsibilities of public office. Jagan said in her prepared broadcast text that her illness with a heart problem, though not life-threatening, has made it necessary for her to make the decision to step down from public office. And, she explained, in order to “fulfil the promise” she made during the 1997 election campaign, when the concept of an “A” Team was announced (herself, Prime Minister Sam Hinds and Jagdeo), she was now ready to officially inform the nation that Jagdeo would be sworn in by Wednesday as her successor. “I am overseeing the implementation of this (election campaign) promise to the electorate,” she said, adding, “and I am assuring all concerned that the responsibilities of good and strong leadership will be guaranteed.” The president, speaking earlier to CANA in a telephone interview ahead of her broadcast, said that her “great hope for the future of Guyana is for peace, unity and progress”. She said she was “confident that my colleagues in government and the party (People’s Progressive Party) will be guided by what is the best at all times for the people of our beloved nation, and I sincerely hope that they will receive the co-operation from all sectors of the Guyanese society...”. The American-born Jagan was one of the four founding members of the PPP, one of the oldest political parties in the Caribbean. She has previously served in other governments as Minister of Health and Labour, Minister of Home Affairs and after editing the Mirror newspaper for about 20 years, became prime minister following the death of her husband President Jagan in March 1997 from heart problems. To fulfil relevant constitutional requirements of resignations and appointments for a smooth transition from Jagan to Jagdeo, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds of the Civic component of the PPP/Civic administration, will tender his resignation today as prime minister to the president. Jagan will then appoint Minister of Finance Jagdeo, who has previously acted as Prime Minister, as the new Prime Minister. By Wednesday, when Jagan tenders her resignation to the Speaker of Parliament Derek Jagan, she would have appointed Jagdeo as the country’s new president. Jagdeo will then re-appoint Hinds, a senior minister of the government, as prime minister and subsequently consider new Cabinet appointments and changes. (CANA)
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