Sir Ronald Sanders, Chief Foreign Affairs Representative of Antigua and Barbuda, has expressed sadness on the passing of PNCR Leader Desmond Hoyte and has extended his sympathy to his wife, Joyce.
According to a release from the Antigua and Barbuda High Commission in London, Sanders noted it would be a fitting tribute to the late leader, “if all parties could seize the grief at his passing as an opportunity for charting a course that would take the entire nation forward to the peace and prosperity the people deserve.”
The period of his presidency witnessed changes in the economic and political orthodoxy of the government he inherited, Sanders said. And championing those changes despite resistance from within his own party took great courage, but many of those changes benefited Guyana, Sanders said.
Sanders noted also that it was Hoyte’s administration that began the opening-up of the media and allowed elections that were judged to be free. Commentators on his stewardship of Guyana’s affairs will undoubtedly be critical, but his positive contributions should not be denied, Sanders asserted.
He observed also that Hoyte had many personal tragedies in his life, yet he did not permit them to turn him away from his duties to the State. “If anything, his life was committed to duty to Guyana.
While there was disagreement with his policies in government and opposition, there can be no disagreement that he was a true Guyanese patriot,” Sanders declared.