Hoyte, a lawyer by training and an economist by reason of the portfolios he held in the early years of People’s National Congress (PNC) administration under Prime Minister and President Forbes Burnham, passed away at this juncture of Guyana’s history. It is a moment when the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government headed by President Bharrat Jagdeo and the main Opposition party the PNC/Reform, under the leadership of Hoyte are locked in a protracted and bitter row that has hampered the proper functioning of the National Assembly and a number of important service commissions. A crime wave, which began after the infamous five prisoners escaped on Mashramani Day, February 23, 2002, has reduced almost all sectors of the population to cowering citizens living in dread of being senselessly killed or maimed by bullets from drive-by shootings or the crossfire of bandits/Police skirmishes. It is the moment when the social partners are doing their best to cobble together a document that would find favour with both Government and Opposition leaders in order to bring about the rapprochement for improved relations and social and economic progress for the country as a whole.

The most respected African-Guyanese political leader since the late President Burnham, Mr. Hugh Desmond Hoyte is also recognised throughout the Caribbean and in several countries of the Third World as a wise, erudite and dignified Elder Statesman, with a conscience for issues affecting the human condition and the ability to formulate strategies for specific problems. In 1985, the year he acceded to the Presidency, Desmond Hoyte could have been described very appropriately as “a man acquainted with grief”. Early in the year, a car conveying his wife Joyce, their two daughters, Amanda and Maxine, and his sister-in-law to Linden was involved in an accident. His daughters and his sister-in-law were killed and his wife was seriously injured. Just months later, on the afternoon of August 6, he stood up before the nation and announced the death of his leader and mentor, President Burnham.

A mere two weeks after Burnham’s passing, Mr. Hoyte delivered a thought-provoking address at the Sophia Auditorium, where hundreds of persons had gathered for the opening of the PNC Biennial Congress. In that address, he sent very clear signals to the leading countries of the international community that Guyana was changing philosophical paths. In so many words, he explained that the experiment with socialism would be de-emphasised; there would be no “soul-brothering” with certain states based merely on ideological objectives, and there would be no “sacred cows” in the Guyanese society. It was a defining moment in a society that had been under tight control for years, and it preceded the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communism by some four years. When the congress concluded, the nation had learnt that wheat flour, which had been considered a contraband item following import restrictions in the early 1980s, would once again be imported to the country. Restrictions on the importation of items such as split peas and potatoes ended, thereby closing one of the saddest and politically backward eras suffered by Guyanese. Soon after this, the PNC Government gave permission for the establishment of another daily newspaper - the Stabroek News - and with that green light the stifling years of state-controlled media ended. It was like a breath of fresh air.

Mr. Hoyte’s Presidency can be credited with several other positive developments. They include the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP), which brought Guyana back from the brink of total economic extinction; the granting of hundreds of acres of Guyana’s hinterland for the Iwokrama Rainforest Project; the introduction of GT&T, which had a revolutionary effect on local telephone services and the establishment of the Guyana Prize for Literature with prizes of US$5,000 every two years.