In honour of the late President of Guyana, Dr Cheddi Jagan, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) will be hosting several activities throughout 2018 to mark his 100th birth anniversary. Among those activities is an academic conference and special cultural events across the country.
PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo said on Tuesday that the aim of these activities was to reflect on the life and achievements of the late President and founder of the Party. Jagdeo said the Party also hoped to spread more awareness among the youth population about Jagan.
“Most people are aware that Cheddi Jagan has given a lifetime of dedication to Guyana. That he was one of the key figures against colonialism and struggle for dignity for Guyana and independence,” Jagdeo said, explaining that Jagan’s work meant a lot for Guyanese of all walks of life.
According to Jagdeo, Jagan constantly created policies that whenever he held Government, it brought benefits to the people of Guyana. “We will not approach the celebration in a partisan way, because we want all Guyanese even those who don’t support or voted for the PPP/C to understand a bit more about his life and his struggles and how his ideas and policies led to a better life for all Guyanese.”
It was also noted that much of the progress made in Guyana, especially under the PPP/C Administration, originated from ideas of his. From premier to chief minister and later President, Jagan is one of the noblest icons in Guyanese and Caribbean political history.
Further, activities to mark Jagan’s birth anniversary will not only be limited to Region Four (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice), but would take place in all three counties. Activities are also planned for the Diaspora, while a special edition of the Thunder Newspaper will be published to mark that occasion and reflect on his achievements.
In addition, there will be several sporting events. Jagdeo also made an appeal to people to use social media to explore more about Jagan. A special website will be created soon to allow Guyanese to post comments and thoughts about the late Guyanese Head of State.
“We want young people to know a lot more about Cheddi Jagan. We want Guyanese to use Cheddi Jagan as their profile picture for days, months or weeks on their social media pages. It would help to draw attention…to him and hopefully it will raise curiosity about Cheddi and what he did for this country. We would be extremely grateful for that,” Jagdeo stated.
Cheddi Berret Jagan was born March 22, 1918, at Plantation Port Mourant, British Guiana. He was a politician and union activist, who in 1953 became the first popularly-elected Prime Minister of British Guiana (now Guyana). He headed the country’s Government again from 1957 to 1964 and from 1992 to 1997.
The son of a foreman on a sugarcane plantation, Jagan studied dentistry in the United States. When he returned to practise dentistry in British Guiana in 1943, he became active in union and political affairs, and was first elected to the British Guiana legislature in 1947.
In 1950, Jagan and his America-born wife, Janet, established British Guiana’s first modern political party, the PPP, with himself as its leader. In elections held under the new British-granted Constitution of 1953, the PPP won a majority of the seats in the House of Assembly and Jagan became the country’s Prime Minister.
His subsequent programme of radical socioeconomic reforms, however, along with the strikes and demonstrations encouraged by his Party, prompted the British authorities in late 1953 to dismiss him from office, suspend the new Constitution, and send in troops to prevent the consolidation of a government that they viewed as pro-communist.
Before his death in 1997, Jagan wrote several books analysing Guyana’s history and contemporary economic and political problems.
