Guyana - the Indian connection endures
: A month ago the people of Guyana voted in a largely peaceful election to re-elect President Bharrat Jagdeo for a second five-year term. It was the first time in four national elections when there was no post-election violence. The peaceful aftermath of the polls, which was termed a remarkable sign of democratic maturity in Guyana by international observers, allowed the Guyanese parliament to be convened within a month.
Guyana is South America's only English-speaking country, and almost half its population (49 percent) is of Indian origin, descendants of Indian indentured workers the British brought to work on the sugarcane plantations. Another 40 percent comprises Afro-Guyanese, whose ancestors were brought from Africa as slaves by the Dutch colonialists, predecessors of the British empire-builders in Guyana. Chinese, Portuguese and Europeans form the rest of the ethnic mix.
Guyana was the first country to elect a prime minister of Indian origin, the legendary Cheddi Jagan, in 1953 while the country was still a British colony. But Cheddi Jagan's Left views caused great unease in the US and fear of a creeping communist takeover. Eventually, the British landed troops in Georgetown and dismissed the government.
Tensions between the two main political parties, which largely translate into the two main ethnic groups, roiled over into rioting after the elections in 1992, 1997 and 2001. The opposition's refusal to accept the results led to vandalism, riots and violent confrontations with the security forces in capital Georgetown and surrounding areas. The differences were eventually resolved through the intervention of the Caribbean regional grouping CARICOM and the Organisation of American States. Although located in South America, Guyana is considered part of the Caribbean.
With the latest election victory, the party dominated by Indo-Guyanese has retained control of parliament and the presidency for a fourth consecutive term. President Jagdeo's ruling People's Progressive Party won 55 percent of the vote, while the main opposition, People's National Congress, which has its power base among the Afro-Guyanese, got 34 percent. For the first time, a new political party, Alliance For Change, which campaigned on a multiracial appeal, won eight percent of the vote from mainly urban middle class voters. Under proportional representation system, 53 members are elected and 12 more nominated through local councils.
In his acceptance speech, after the bitterly fought election campaign, President Jagdeo pledged to bridge the racial divide, saying it was time for all parties "to dispense with all the feelings of hurt and animosity generated by the competitive political campaigns and work together to advance the goals of development and national unity".
During his previous term, the 42-year old Jagdeo, an economist who trained in Russia, is credited with making major improvements in infrastructure, roadways and schools and reducing the foreign debt. Since the late 1990s the government has divested itself of many industries and the economy is showing signs of revival. A decade ago Guyana's foreign debt was crippling and almost 95 percent of its revenues went to servicing the debt; in 2005 it had come down to 20 percent.
But Guyana still faces several intractable problems that include environmental threats to the coastal strip and rainforest, poverty and organised crime -- the last fuelled by the drugs trade. About 70 percent of the country is tropical rainforest. Despite its abundant resources of bauxite, gold and timber reserves, there is widespread urban poverty and unemployment with high level of migration to the US.
President Jagdeo visited India in August 2003 and January 2004 when New Delhi agreed to extend a concessional credit line of $25 million for the modernisation of Guyana's sugar industry.
Cricket is a popular game in Guyana and the Indian government has given a grant of $6 million for the construction of a new cricket stadium in Georgetown that will allow Guyana to host some of the matches of the Cricket World Cup 2007 series.
Guyana has a long history of racial and political acrimony. The People's National Congress, which has its power base among the Afro-Guyanese, was in power from 1964 to 1992 under the authoritarian rule of Forbes Burnham, a one-time associate of Cheddi Jagan. Burnham converted Guyana into a Cooperative Republic and nationalised all private holdings in the country, leading to the marginalisation of the Indo-Guyanese community. It was a period of drastic economic decline and a difficult time for the Indo-Guyanese till Burnham's successor, Desmond Hoyte, began loosening the autocratic system of governance.
Elections in Guyana through the 1970s and 80s were widely criticised for fraud, through grossly inflated overseas ballots and intimidation of Indo-Guyanese voters. The 1990 elections could not be held as the Commonwealth election observers criticised the electoral rolls. Persistent international pressure led to a revision of the rolls and elections were finally held in 1992 under international supervision.
The first free and fair elections in Guyana brought Cheddi Jagan and his People's Progressive Party to power. When Cheddi Jagan died in 1997, his wife and long-time associate Janet Jagan became president. But she retired from politics after a heart attack in August 1999 when Finance Minister Bharrat Jagdeo took over.
(Shubha Singh is a journalist and researcher on the diaspora. She can be reached on shubyat@gmail.com).
