Eleven years of solid progress
Guyana Chronicle
October 4, 2003
TOMORROW, October 5, marks eleven years since the election to office of the PPP/Civic alliance after twenty-eight years of unbroken PNC rule. That period saw some of the most blatant violations of our fundamental human rights, including the right to vote. There was an almost complete denial of basic rights, including the right to free speech and the freedom of the press. Institutionalized fear had engulfed the land, thanks to "party paramountcy" practiced by the then ruling party, the People's National Congress.
A significant number of Guyanese will be too young to remember what life was like in those trying times. A young adult today would have vague memories of life in the eighties when food was hard to come by and when almost everything was a hassle to get.
Something as elementary as a birth certificate, not to mention passports, took months if not longer to obtain.
Out of desperation, people were forced to resort to the offer of "inducements", be it in cash or kind, with the hope that such "inducements" could help to, as it were, speed up things.
The degeneration to which the nation was subjected was pervasive. The greatest tragedy, however, was the stultification of the intellectual capacity of our people, in particular our children yet in their formative years.
The nation is still recovering from this catastrophe.
Because of depressing working and living conditions, a substantial number of our skilled people were forced to migrate, resulting in a severe brain drain. The result was extremely weak institutional capacity and a depleted workforce.
The political crisis caused by the rape of democracy led to an economic crisis, which in turn led to a severe social crisis. This cycle of destruction lasted throughout the life of the PNC with disastrous consequences.
Every system and subsystems were run down, including water, electricity, roads, harbours, and bridges.
The PNC, which promised to "Feed, Clothe and House the Nation," not only banned essential food items but also closed down the Ministry of Housing.
This is why the significance of October 5 has such a powerful resonance especially in the minds of Guyanese.
The return to the country of freedom and democracy is analogous to oxygen supply for a burning candle.
It generated a brightness and glow that only those who knew and experienced the atrocities of that period can fully appreciate. And this included the vast majority of the adult population living in Guyana today.
There are those who wish us to forget the pre-October period and pretend as though it never existed.
This is wishful thinking.
The scars of the past are so deeply ingrained in the minds of the Guyanese people that it cannot be easily erased.
Let October 5 serve to inspire us to move on confidently into the future and to do everything in our power to prevent a recurrence to such a sordid past. The current PPP/Civic administration has demonstrated that it has both the will and the capacity to move this wonderful country of ours forward.
Let there be no turning back.
Let us say 'no' to those who seek to divide us and to reverse the gains we have made since October 5, 1992.