Janet Jagan and Guyana
By INDIRA MAHARAJ
THE resignation of President Janet Jagan and the swearing in of Finance Minister, Bharrath Jagdeo, mark the end of the Jagan era in Guyana which lasted for more than half a century. It is unusual when a head of state or head of government voluntarily gives up office in the national interest rather than hold on to power in the face of failing health or even when other circumstances demand it. Janet Jagan's act of resigning, however, is not inconsistent with her exceptional nature and her previous actions, which have put Guyana before any selfish aims and pursuits. That remarkable quality of Janet Jagan, the fact that she was cut from a different cloth, first became apparent when she left her affluent American life to migrate with her husband, Cheddi, to a colonial outpost, in an alien culture, and became intimately involved in the struggle of the social and political life of Guyana. This involvement led to her many outstanding accomplishments which left their distinctive imprint on Guyana: she was one of the four founding members of the PPP, one of the oldest political parties in the Caribbean; she served in governments as Minister of Health, of Labour, of Home Affairs; and as Prime Minister. She was also the first in many areas: Guyana's first woman deputy speaker; first woman to be elected in the Georgetown City Council; first woman cabinet minister under self-government; first woman prime minister. And the nation's first woman president. But an even more memorable achievement is Cheddi's and her refusal to call their mostly Indian supporters to protest against the Burnham and Hoyte's illegal administrations, which would have certainly dragged Guyana into civil war and racial conflagration. Hoyte, removed from power in a democratic manner, is using this technique to full effect, and so many can now appreciate this feat fully. Janet Jagan's loyalty to Guyana to the very end was reflected in her parting words from office, when she said that her "great hope for Guyana is for peace, unity, and progress" and that she was "confident that my colleagues in government and the party will be guided by what is best at all times for the people of our beloved nation...." Yet in spite of all her considerable achievements, Janet Jagan's age, health and the changing realities of Guyana have made a changing of the guard a necessity. During her administration she applied band aid solutions which deal with symptoms rather than diseases while it leaves the body politic to haemorrhage; her well- intentioned bid to not let Guyana plunge into racial conflict has led Desmond Hoyte and supporters of the PNC holding Guyana ransom. Her much-heralded gesture to forfeit approximately 40 per cent of her PPP/Civic government term in office after elections was found to be free and fair by international organisations, to make possible the Herdsmanston Accord, should never have occurred; it signalled to Desmond Hoyte that he could do anything he wanted and get away with it. And, the much-commended restraint exercised by her government at crisis points, with serious threats to law and order by the PNC and its supporters, inspired by the lack of resolve demonstrated by the Herdsmanston Accord, have essentially been signs of a "wait and hope it blows over" policy. Jagan's Marxist baggage has also created discontent among some of the PPP's Indo-Guyanese supporters. The PPP's refusal to publicly acknowledge that ethnicity is a major factor behind the occurrence of a lot of the turmoil in Guyana, and its continuation of the usage of the Marxist language of class, have left many in the Indo-Guyanese community vulnerable to racially-motivated incidents. The recently concluded strike in which Indian businesses were targeted, looted and bombed while the government did nothing to protect them, claiming it was all a question of class, is a case in point. Indians are almost being subject to a kind of reverse racism, which is leading to some leaving the PPP to join others with Indianist positions, who believe they may be forced to employ necessary measures to protect themselves. Thus in order to avoid racial strife, the Jagan administration has inadvertently contributed to it. While we must all pay tribute to Janet Jagan, a great woman, we must simultaneously acknowledge that Guyana needs a new leader shorn of the historical baggage and with new and more effective ways of dealing with the crisis in Guyana. And Bharrath Jagdeo has been the chosen one. How well he deals with them, only time will tell.
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