Serious about the environment. Jagdeo received the United Nations' flagship environment award, the 2010 “Champion of the Earth” award. His presidency has also been defined by his commitment to climate change
The pioneer in honouring individuals by the media has to be TIME Magazine. Starting in 1927 and purporting to consider all of humanity, they defined the genre and still remain the iconic standard worldwide.
In launching our local but wider version with a host of categories, we begin with our Guyanese Person of the Year. We have utilised Time Magazine’s classic criteria to arrive at our choice: “bestowed by the editors on the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill will, and embodied what was important for the year.”
Former president, Bharrat Jagdeo is our unanimous choice for 2011’s Person of the Year. Since his newsworthy achievements were accomplished from the realm of politics, he has also been named 2011’s Politician of the Year.
Bharrat Jagdeo
The event that dominated 2011 was undoubtedly Guyana’s general election in its entirety. And the man that dominated the news on the election was former President, Bharrat Jagdeo. But even before the election there was insistent speculation that he would “find a way” to run for a third term. These conjectures were symptomatic of the young and fragile state of our democracy.
The tradition of elected leaders obeying the rule of law and stepping down after their term (s) of office expired was not taken as a matter of course. Former president Forbes Burnham died in office; his successor the late Desmond Hoyte had to be pressured by the U. S through President Carter to accept the 1992 election results; former president the late Cheddi Jagan died during his term in office, and his wife and successor the late former president Janet Jagan was hounded out of office through opposition street protests.
Her successor Bharrat Jagdeo as president, signed into law the restriction that presidents of Guyana could only served two terms.
Former President Jagdeo being led by children to the field to take part in the cultural presentation in his honour at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence
This event was therefore for Guyana a sui generis limitation, and one that set on its initiator, Jagdeo, a huge responsibility to ensure that this democratic innovation would be honoured.
In acceding to the constitutional stipulation unequivocally without any pressure, President Jagdeo has not only set a precedent but launched a new tradition for all his successors to follow.
Even his most fervent critics must accept this as an historic legacy.
The young president’s other achievements are matters of record: Res ipso loquitor – the thing speaks for itself. But sometimes memories are short, so maybe some citations are in order.
Inheriting a crippling debt-ridden and devastated economy, President Jagdeo has managed to considerably reduce that debt, reconstructed and launched our economy on a path of growth that is now the envy of other Caricom countries.
He has also rescued the democratic political system from the depredations of naked force, and unlike some previous predecessors, he has created an environment for press freedom previously denied to Guyanese, despite its sometimes damaging repercussions upon himself.
With children during the Appreciation Day Ceremony held September 2011 at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence
Mention must also be made of the rehabilitation of our human and physical infrastructure within the last decade and the peace and stability Guyanese now enjoy as a consequence of his many programmes implemented. Many youths and single parent families, once considered society’s failures, have become more empowered and confident about their future; a future that many Guyanese are now beginning to find hope in.
Jagdeo has also made his mark on the international scene when he saw value where all others saw uneconomic and inaccessible forests; his visionary stance on REDD and Climate Change would provide a colossal stream of revenue for Guyana in the foreseeable future.
There is also the LCDS for Guyana that is a developmental template for the rest of a world that knows it must go green but knows not how.
But it is his dignity in stepping aside from the highest office in the land; his herculean efforts to elect his successor and his grace in remaining in the background as he promised to allow the latter the space to establish his credentials that define him as a statesman for all seasons.
It is Guyana Times’ honour to salute former president Bharrat Jagdeo as our Person of the Year and Politician of the Year. As a still comparatively very young man, we wish him continued success in whatever initiative he chooses to embark upon.
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