Since the demise of Forbes Burnham in 1985, Desmond Hoyte emerged as the most experienced PNC politician, with the sole exception of Hamilton Green. He ascended the stairs to the highest offices as Prime Minister/Vice-President and Executive President of Guyana after stints as, among others, Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Works and Communications, Minister of Economic Development and Minister of Finance.

Desmond Hoyte would be known for dismantling Burnham’s economic and political dictatorship. He liberalised the state-dominated economy, eased import restrictions on essential foods and shut down the Rabbi Washington rag-tag army of thugs.

Though it is not my intention nor is it the occasion for a critique of all he did, it can hardly be denied that when he opened the window to proverbially let in the fresh air of free enterprise capitalism, he also let in lots of flies. With the big pluses of Omai and Barama investments came suspect privatisation, retrenchment and massive currency devaluation.

However, in my opinion, the finest and most courageous hour of Desmond Hoyte was when, in the face of an inevitable split in his party, he allowed electoral democracy under his presidency.

Any one who has lived through the 1968-1985 era of rigged elections would know that free and fair elections could not be possible in 1992 had Hoyte given a stiff back to electoral concessions. After those elections, he conceded defeat to the People’s Progressive Party/Civic, and attended the Inauguration of Cheddi Jagan as the first freely-elected President in post-independent Guyana.

Then, he sent a correct signal that the country should live with its plural, multi-party, democratic process. He seemed to have accepted the competitive nature of the new democracy, and had hoped for a return to office by peaceful means. However, he was to suffer successive defeats following the 1992 polls, in 1997 and in 2001.

The last five years however have been the most difficult for Hoyte. It appears that he wanted to prove that he was the party’s “come back kid” after his triple whammies at the polls. Not only did he adopt a strident posture of putting “pressures” on the PPP government, but he simultaneously battled elsewhere -- at the party level to contain internal, barrack-room insurgency; and with his own health when his condition required triple heart by-pass surgery, and follow-up checks.

In these last years, Desmond Hoyte’s liberal image took a heavy beating. Much of this was caused by what he said, when he said them, and how. Long after he is gone, his pronouncements about “making the country ungovernable” and “slow fire” would remain as additions to the political lexicon. But in the end it is history that would judge him, and how well he fought for his causes.

Suffice to say here and now that in these past five years it was never “business as usual” for Hoyte. Guyana experienced sustained political instability and turmoil. We became a nation in conflict and, we attracted a tall list of “peace initiatives”. Among these are ministrations by the so-called Caricom Wise Men, occasional visits of Caribbean Prime Ministers, Caricom Forensic Auditors, and past and current Caricom/Commonwealth Facilitators.

We sat at the negotiation table and hammered out the Herdmanston Accord and the St. Lucia Statement, and experimented with the Janet Jagan/Desmond Hoyte and Jagdeo/Hoyte failed Dialogues. In the end we changed a sitting president, forced constitutional changes and held pre-mature elections.

In spite of what might characterise the Hoyte era, I will always remember him as the politician who never gave up, and never ceded his turf.

I recall that in Parliament we have often found ourselves at loggerhead. On one occasion he demanded an apology from me for remarks I had made on his handling of the privatisation process. When I stayed my ground, Hoyte promptly walked out of the House. He would stay out on other occasions, if I were on my feet. But once we were in the Lobby, he would remember none of that. We talked easily, though not often.

During October, I had expected to see him when I was admitted to the Guyana Bar. But he went to Buxton instead. However, just over a week ago my friend Dr. David Dabydeen (Guyana’s Ambassador to UNESCO) mentioned that he had met Desmond Hoyte. He said that he discussed publishing a collection of Hoyte’s articles/speeches on the Environment and on the Guyana Prize for Literature, both of which were his pet issues. During that meeting Hoyte showed him the books he would like to read for the holiday, which prompted David to present him his own copy of my novel, Hendree’s Cure. So David came to my house to uplift another copy.

That might be David’s excuse for wanting to see me. But I believe that the Guyanese professor and author/poet was more interested in sharing with me what has turned out to be Hoyte’s last conversation with him. In that conversation Hoyte revealed that he wanted to spend quality time on moving forward his party’s proposal for a national unity government.

While there would be time to fully assess Desmond Hoyte and his contributions to Guyana, none can deny that he has made his mark both as a liberal President and as a relentless Opposition Leader. But it is perhaps the vision that he has left of the political agenda for Guyana that would bring him greater glory -- the hope for the future of a united Guyanese people.