Articles by Janet Jagan
Independence Day is a public holiday!
by Janet Jagan
There appears to be an on-going controversy about the matter of public holidays. The one that baffles me the most is that concerning Independence Day, May 26. The opposition PNC has never endorsed the day as a public holiday, or, for that matter, a day of any consequence.
A recent editorial in the Stabroek News also questions making Independence Day a public holiday. I would like to know what country in this world does not honour its day of independence? I doubt if there is one besides ours.
We have to dig deep into our history to find out why the PNC scorns that day and up to the year 2004, refuses to give it the recognition it deserves. The fight for Guyana’s independence began in 1950 when the PPP was formed. In its first manifesto, the party declared that its objective was the attainment of independence from Great Britain. As far as I know, that was the first time in Guyana’s history that a group of men and women came out openly with such a declaration. Among those involved in the preparation of the manifesto that declared the PPP’s objective of independence were Cheddi Jagan, Forbes Burnham, Ashton Chase, Ram Karran, Sydney King, Brindley Benn, others, including myself.
Many things happened between that time and the granting of independence in 1966. But all during those 16 years, the PPP never lowered the flag of its independence call. It used all means to strengthen the struggle against colonial rule. It held marches, vigils, demonstrations, distributed handbills, petitioned the United Nations, lobbied overseas, put motions in Parliament, held countless public meetings, members went to jail, books were written, lectures delivered and above all, the spirit of independence permeated the land.
All of this in spite of the fact that after the split in the PPP in 1955, which meant that Forbes Burnham left the PPP and later formed the PNC, he and his associates changed their position on independence. That is the core of the PNC’s present position of ignoring this important date - May 26.
I can only explain the reason for the shift in thinking of the PNC on the issue of independence this way:
1) The PNC was from Day One of its existence opposed to the idea of independence under Jagan and the PPP. That seemed ingrained in its ideology
2) The PNC has had far too long a childish way of thinking. Once the PPP advocates something, it is against it, whatever it may be. It may sound like a shallow assessment, but the reality is there, right now, to see and try to figure out.
During those 16 years of our independence struggle, the PNC was openly and at times violently opposed to independence. Their members openly attacked our picket lines and they carried banners "No Independence Under Jagan". I recall being in a picket line on the Carmichael Street side of the then Government House (now State House) when a car drove up and a big-wig PNC woman member got out with a big stick and ran towards our picket line. Fortunately one of our members, George David, fended off the stick and ushered the lady back to her car. But that was only one of many.
The PNC, in collaboration with the CIA, fomented strikes and mayhem, blood and fire, to prevent the British from proceeding with its promise of granting independence in the 60’s. The PNC manufactured the excuse for the Colonial Office.
When I was Minister of Home Affairs, from my office, I could see Forbes Burnham’s Chambers where lines of civil servants went once a week to receive the pay they lost during the strike. That’s how the strike went on so long in the 60’s.
The PNC did everything it could to prevent Guyana from becoming independent in the mid-sixties. It demanded proportional representation in order to defeat us (now, they don’t like it and are demanding that PR encompasses the constituency system - again thinking it will defeat us!) and collaborated with the British to achieve it.
Two years after manipulating the PPP out of office by PR and its short-lived coalition with the United Force, independence was granted.
Our indomitable leader Cheddi Jagan, the man with the biggest heart and greatest dignity, attended the lowering of the Union Jack and the raising of the Guyana flag, despite all that had gone before to deny him that position.
I suppose all of this has left a bad taste in the mouths of the PNC, who, in office, unlike other nations, down-played, to the extreme, the day of independence and highlighted Republic Day.
I think India is a good example of how to do it. India honours both days, but no country is ashamed of its independence, except Guyana when under the PNC. And why has Stabroek News joined the PNC chorus against May 26 as a public holiday? I think your guess is the same as mine!
© 2001 Janet Jagan
Bring Back the "Trade Union Recognition" Bill!
by Janet Jagan
It might even get into the Guinness Book of Records for being the longest controversial piece of legislation anywhere.
In 1953 the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) which won a landslide victory in the nation’s first elections under Universal Adult Suffrage, soon after taking office, introduced what would turn out to be controversial up to this period. It was the Labour Relations Bill which would empower workers to elect by ballot the union the workers in an industry wanted for representation.
That is really, the crux of the Bill which has created so much havoc and controversy since 1953 to today.
This description is worthy of reprint: "On the very day the British troops entered Guiana we passed in the House of Assembly our Labour Relations Bill. Employers were to be required by law to negotiate with the trade unions enjoying majority support; this support was to be determined by a procedure modeled upon that of the US National Labour Relations Act, and similar legislation in Canada. The bill was aimed at minimizing inter-union rivalry and preventing jurisdictional disputes. It included two other important provisions - one seeking to prohibit victimization of workers and the other seeking the right of trade union officials to visit the place at which their members were employed.
The Bill touched "King Sugar". The recognition of the Guyana Industrial Workers’ Union (GIWU), then the unrecognized sugar union would have meant better wages and proper working conditions for the sugar workers and reduced profits for the sugar planters.
The response of the enemies of the PPP was true to form: "another communist measure," they howled." (West on Trial by Cheddi Jagan).
Of course, the Bill was lost in the events that ensued, the PPP government removed and a handpicked Interim Government placed in office. In the course of these events, the militant Trades Union Congress (TUC) was emasculated, new handpicked leaders chosen and it apparently has not recovered to this day!
Ten years later, when the PPP was again in office, but facing a coalition of local forces (the PNC and the United Force) and funded by the USA/UK governments, the same Bill came before Parliament. The TUC, led by its President Richard Ishmael who was also, the head of the MPCA Union which was challenged by GIWU, vigorously opposed the Bill, and created havoc.
Mr Burnham was then the Leader of the Opposition and in the famous consultation between him and Premier Cheddi Jagan on the Bill, Mr Burnham who had supported the very same Bill when he was a Cabinet Minister of the PPP in 1953 "admitted that it was not the causa belli, but the casus belli, not the cause of, but the occasion for, the war" (The West on Trial). He thus confirmed that the strike by the TUC, in opposition to the Bill, was politically motivated.
It was not until the PPP was again in office, in 1997, that the Bill was again introduced in Parliament. This time someone with a screw loose in his head apparently drafted legislation that would introduce the essence of that historic Bill, but screwed up some of the clauses.
Essentially, it gave the TUC too much power, which that body has abused and has made the Act ineffective by not attending meetings, thus preventing things from getting done, protecting its own weak affiliates from the "dangers" of a poll that might remove their recognition, etc, etc.
The new legislation to correct the errors of the one in operation, known as the Trade Union Recognition Bill, is supported by the major unions in Guyana - the GAWU, Guyana Labour Union, NAACIE and CCWU which have come together to get the legislation back in Parliament where it was postponed recently.
Let’s hope they succeed!
March 2006
© 2006 Janet Jagan
Five Years to Register 400,000 voters is Surely Sufficient Time!
by Janet Jagan
Is it right for persons directly involved in electoral fraud, or the political progeny of those who carried out of the most vicious forms of electoral rigging for some 24 years, to have strong influence in the conduct of elections in Guyana? I say no!
It’s nonsense and much more sinister than many may wish to admit. Delaying the holding of free and fair elections is an affront to democracy. Every nation’s constitution states the frequency of general elections - generally each four or five years. To delay elections, deliberately as some are trying to do is seeking to destroy not only the constitution but democracy itself.
In Guyana we have elections every five years. The Elections Commission is set up in a particular way to bring balance and the democratic process to the objective of free and fair elections. We are unique in that we had blatantly fraudulent elections in 1968, 1973, 1980, 1985 and in a referendum. Therefore the objective after all that ended was to see that it never ever happened again.
According to the agreed arrangements for the establishment of an Elections Commission whose task is to conduct registration and elections, the Chairman is chosen in a unique way, structured to satisfy a constant-complaining Opposition that failed to win at free and fair elections (but did quite well once they were rigged!). The Opposition Leader submits some names for the post of Chairman, out of which, the Party in office chooses one name. Apparently this system was created to bring closer harmony in the Elections Commission made up also of 3 members of the governing party and 3 members of the Opposition.
Surely any sane person would expect that with five- years to prepare for the next elections, time would not be a problem - especially in a country with only some 400,000 voters. Apparently registration of such a small number of voters over a five year period is no problem anywhere, except in Guyana where the Opposition is unsure of its possibilities of winning and will do anything to postpone the fatal day of elections.
The whole scenario is filled with nonsense - 5 years to prepare 400,000 voters for elections! And yet it cannot be done to satisfy an Opposition that has only enjoyed office in rigged elections? Come, now - let’s be more realistic!
I quote the following from Stabroek News of Sunday last: "Attorney-at-law CML John, a former Minister of Home Affairs under the PNC, disagrees with the conclusions by the donor countries on the state of readiness for the August 2006 poll.
"The diplomatic representatives from the United States, Britain, Canada and the European Union stationed in Georgetown said in a joint statement last week that elections could be held by August 4, 2006.
John, who is also President of the Guyana Association of Local Authorities, a city councilor and a one-time political leader, argues on the One on One TV interview programme tonight that the current arrangement for the registration of voters is flawed, thus paving the way for electoral fraud. "We do not have a pure list of voters," he said."
For those who may not know, Mr John was the minister in the PNC government responsible for the 1968 elections - the first rigged elections in Guyana. I was a member of the Elections Commission along with the hand-picked Chairman, Sir Donald Jackson and Mr D. Hoyte representing the PNC, plus a representative of the United Force. From my early experience in the Commission, I had unearthed the insidious methods being used to rig the elections. Not one member of the Commission paid the slightest attention to my exposures of the rigging, since they were all intent on fulfilling their obligations to their No. 1 Boss to see that the PNC came out with a lot more votes than it had in the 1964 elections.
I insisted that we visit the Minister of Home Affairs so I could point out the irregularities. This was finally done - but what a disaster it was! The fine gentleman, who is now talking about a "pure list of voters" and "electoral fraud" for the 2006 elections, was totally, completely unconcerned about the rigging techniques of the 1968 elections. In fact, he was so rude and hostile to me that I can honestly say, in my whole career in politics, I never met anyone of his calibre or determination to create an evil system of voting.
Well, what’s done is done - but are honest, democratic loving people to be subjected to the ideas and directives of those who put us through the agony of their 28 years of monstrous rule via rigged elections? Those demanding the postponement of elections this year are the hereditary proponents of the series of rigged elections in the 6os, 70s and 80s and want to create greater headaches and problems for Guyanese. They seem to think that the postponement of elections will create the necessity for an Interim Government, which will give them back the phony power they had through the rigging process.
All Guyanese must demand that the elections take place in accordance with our Constitution and that every effort be made to maintain the high standards of the 1992, 1997 and 2001 elections!
© 2006 Janet Jagan
