MARKING OF DR. CHEDDI JAGAN’S ENTRY INTO PARLIAMENT
(Notice
Paper No. 197 (M51 Govt 32) published on 2007-12-06)
MOTION 5.
Hon Samuel A.A Hinds, M.P., Prime Minister and
Minister of Public Works and Communications, to move the following
motion:
WHEREAS the First Session of the Fourth
Legislative Council of the then British Guiana was opened on December
18, 1947;
AND
WHEREAS Dr. Cheddi Jagan at the age of
29 was administered the oath as a Member of the Legislative on the
said day, having won the seat for Central Demerara (Buxton to Kitty)
at the November, 1947 elections;
AND
WHEREAS Dr. Jagan’s victory at the polls
was unprecedented as it was the first occasion on which a militant
representative of the working class secured a seat in the colonial
Legislative Council thereby signaling the dawn of a new phase of
struggle for independence;
AND
WHEREAS his entry into the Legislative
Council began a long and illustrious career as a dedicated
Parliamentarian extending for 45 years until 1992 when he became
ineligible to remain seated on being elected the Executive President
of Guyana;
AND
WHEREAS he believed that his foray into
the Legislative Council provided a new “dimension to the politics of
protest. A continuity between the legislative and the street corner, …
The Legislative Council was no longer the hallowed Chamber where
“gentlemen” debated at leisure and had their words recorded in the
Hansard for posterity. The Legislature at last became part and parcel
of the struggle for the people”;
AND
WHEREAS he brought a new style of
parliamentarian to the Legislative and in doing so created his trade
mark as a political leader, a trade unionist, a Premier, the Leader of
the Opposition and subsequently, President of the nation;
AND
WHEREAS Dr. C. Jagan was never deterred
in the early days when almost every question he asked and every motion
he tabled was left unanswered or defeated, nor was he ever daunted
after each election in the post-independence period in recognizing
that Parliament was the forum for the battle of ideas and
representation returning each time to take his seat in the House and
to champion the cause of the people; nor did he stop coming to
Parliament in the late eighties when he was muzzled from speaking in
this House for several years;
AND
WHEREAS his career as a Parliamentarian
over four and a half decades was marked by his persistent and
unrelenting struggle for the working people of the then British
Guiana, for universal adult suffrage, for independence from British
colonial rule, for fair and equitable trade relations, for the end to
colonial and imperialist rule globally, and in the post-independence
period for the return to democracy and free and fair elections;
AND WHEREAS on becoming President at his
inaugural speech to the new Parliament he called on Parliament to
become a truly deliberative forum;
AND
WHEREAS as President he brought his life
long philosophy of fair and equitable trade and sustainable human
development to bear in his concept of “A New Human Global Order” which
was adopted by the UN General Assembly shortly after his passing,
BE
IT RESOLVED:
That
this National Assembly give due recognition to this outstanding
Guyanese who was the longest serving Member of the National Assembly
crossing 45 years of service on this the anniversary of his entrance
to the Legislature 60 years ago;
AND
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That
this National Assembly agrees to pay tribute to Dr. Cheddi Jagan as
the longest serving Parliamentarian by establishing a Special
Collection of his speeches in the National Assembly spanning those 45
years and to place them on display in the Library of the Parliament
and to seek support to have them published as a collection for
reference to the younger and future generations, some of whom may also
enter these Chambers as Members of Parliament.
(Notice Paper No. 197 (M51 Govt 32) published on 2007-12-06)