Ramotar hails late leader as nationalist, patriot
Guyana Chronicle
March 7, 2004
GENERAL Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Donald Ramotar has hailed late President of Guyana, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, who was also the leader and a founder member of the party as a “nationalist, patriot and internationalist.”
Speaking on the occasion of the sixth death anniversary of the late President, Ramotar reflected that his personality traits from childhood were influenced by the sugar plantation environment in which he grew up.
These plantations, Ramotar recalled were where the battles against slavery and indentureship and the struggle for independence took place,
and this impacted heavily on Dr. Jagan firing his political will to struggle for independence, not just for the sake of it, but rather to lay the foundations of ending poverty, social inequality and injustice.
Ramotar said that Dr. Jagan realised that these lofty goals could have been achieved only by organising the people, and this led to the formation of the PPP, which he described as the greatest contribution to Guyana.
“Everything that evokes national pride is associated with the PPP,” Ramotar contended, adding that despite efforts by some to create national disunity within the PPP and the country, the party remains firmly rooted in Dr. Jagan’s ideal of national unity for which he relentlessly struggled throughout his life.
“We must guard the unity of our people like the apple of our eye,” Ramotar exhorted.
He noted that since the advent of the PPP/Civic government in 1992, there has been an improvement in the standard of living of the Guyanese people, with national income rising from a per capita income of just US$300 to over US$840. However, he conceded that Guyana still remains a poor country, thus there is still a lot more to be done.