OCTOBER 5, 1992 created the occasion and environment for Guyanese to focus on the issues affecting them, including those in the social sector and development within the economy, President Bharrat Jagdeo has said.

"It gave us an opportunity to focus on improved governance issues, but October 5 for me, and for many of us means much more...that day was the beginning of the way we started looking at ourselves as people, as Guyanese," he said Friday.

Mr. Jagdeo was speaking to a large gathering at the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre, Georgetown, at a ninth anniversary public lecture to mark Guyana's return to democracy.

The main speaker was Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Executive Committee member of the governing People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Dr. Roger Luncheon whose topic was `Development and Democracy - Case of Guyana'.

"Many of us had confidence restored to us; there was a sense of national pride; people walked with their shoulders up and their heads held higher...to look at themselves differently", the President said.

"Because of that, today our children can grow up and dream the dreams they want to have, and have the possibility of realising those dreams."

Among changes he referred to with the PPP/C coming into power was the economic structural adjustment programme.

There were many things his Government did not like about the programme, he said, noting that it was critical of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) because the institution had always wanted workers to be retrenched, wage freeze, across the board privatisation and devaluation of the currency, among other measures.

Although it could not get out of the structural adjustment programme to which this country was committed, Mr. Jagdeo said the government in its negotiations sought to chart a bold and innovative approach.

He explained that contrary to the pre-1992 period when the multilateral financial institutions were given a list of all the entities with just dates for when they will be privatised, the PPP/C Government changed that.

The position taken was that only those enterprises that were a burden on the national treasury should be privatised, so that they would not have to be subsidised with money which could be spent on social services, he said.

The President noted that entities that were useful and performed a socially useful function were not privatised and cited the Guyana Oil Company (GUYOIL) as an example.

He took pains to explain that GUYOIL is not to be seen as only a profit-maker for the Government and said it also has a regulatory role. Experience has taught that many of the multilateral companies selling oil in this country would never adjust prices locally when there is a movement internationally, he pointed out.

For this reason, Mr. Jagdeo said, GUYOIL has a dual role to play and the Government opted to keep that company.

The Government also opted to keep the National Shipping Company since the state needs frontage on the wharves, he said.

Likewise, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) was retained because of its contribution to the overall economy, he said, noting that one sixth of the nation's foreign currency comes from that entity.

He said the Government has changed the model of privatisation and in the case of GUYNEC, part of the company was sold and the other part leased to workers.

"Although we had to go a particular route, we sought to ensure that workers' interests were protected all along," he reiterated.

He referred to budgetary allocations, explaining that while the previous government had been spending most of the money in Foreign Affairs alone, those ratios have changed today. He recalled that in Foreign Affairs alone the PNC had been spending more than they were on education, health care, housing and sea defence.

Today, the Government is spending $11.3 billion (about 18 per cent of the national budget) on education alone), he said.

President Jagdeo also noted that today, people recognising that they have a sympathetic ear, visit his offices and other key government agencies to talk about survival matters such as poverty issues. He said that in the past, it was quite different.

The bottom line, he argued, was that the philosophy and approaches of the two governments differed, and his administration is guided by the philosophy that whatever is done must be in the interest of the people of this country.

"Our task is simple and is also complex. Simple, because there is only one objective and that is creating a better life for all Guyanese."

Mr. Jagdeo said his Government needs the support of every Guyanese to remain true to the philosophy of the late President Cheddi Jagan and to continue the work started in 1992.

Luncheon stressed that the PPP/C is committed to the ideals of democracy and development.

He observed that since 1997, internal and external threats have surfaced and these have had a great impact on the party's twin processes of democratic renewal and national development.

"Democratic gains have been threatened; developmental strategies have been maligned and their implementation obstructed...the economy has suffered, and so has Guyana and Guyanese.

"The spectacle of a nation divided against itself has surfaced and has given some expression in the consequences of economic depression," he said.

"But with the commitment of the PPP/Civic administration to the maintenance of Guyana's democratic traditions, and its commitment to Guyana's development agenda, we must not allow anyone to destroy our collective gains," he exhorted those present.

Luncheon highlighted the PPP/C's commitment to consultations, noting that democratic practices cannot survive in an environment hostile to consultations.

He said national development and the consensus around which choices are made cannot be entertained in the absence of consultation, or in an environment hostile to consultation.

"Democracy, democratic renewal, development and achieving developmental objectives, at the end of the day begin with Guyanese talking to each other," he stressed.

"We must not forget our past - not only the long ago past, but our immediate past.

"Dr. Jagan is not with us, but his teachings, his approaches - they remain with us, and with help, our democracy would be enshrined and our development task achieved", he concluded.