Build a Guyana in which national unity is a lived reality – President on anniversary of 1992 elections – News Room Guyana
Statement of His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana
The Freedom We Must Never Take For Granted
Fellow Guyanese
Tomorrow, we observe the 34th anniversary of the historic elections of October 5, 1992 — a day that opened a new chapter in the history of our Republic.
October 5th 1992 was the culmination of a long and painful struggle to reclaim Guyana from the pestilence of successive rigged and widely condemned elections beginning in 1968; from political authoritarianism and entrenched abuse of power; from misrule and economic decay; from extreme hardship and deprivation; and from the suppression of the rights, freedoms and democratic aspirations of our people.
October 5 was the day when, after almost three decades, the ballot once again became an instrument through which the Guyanese people could genuinely determine who governed them.
And that achievement must never be diminished by the passage of time.
The Guyanese people did not inherit democracy on October 5, 1992.
They fought for it. They suffered for it. They sacrificed for it. And, ultimately, they reclaimed it.
The struggle was a relentless one, fought by progressive forces, led by the PPPC, and by persons and organizations inside and outside of Guyana who refused to accept that the votes of the people should be meaningless.
It , however, was a struggle for more than the right to free and fair elections. It was a struggle for bread and justice.
It was a struggle for dignity.
And it was a struggle to restore to Guyanese the fundamental democratic proposition that governments derive their legitimacy from the consent of the governed.
Understanding the significance of October 5th 1992, however, requires us to appreciate the state of the country that emerged from that struggle.
Guyana’s economic condition by the late 1980s and early 1990s was catastrophic. The economy was burdened by enormous external debt, declining production, deteriorating infrastructure and collapsing public services.
The scale of the crisis was captured by the fact that even the then PNC government had conceded that by 1989, Guyana’s external debt to Gross Domestic Product ratio was approximately 925%. The country’s external debt stood at approximately US$1.9 billion, including about US$1.14 billion in arrears owed to international institutions, foreign governments, commercial banks and other creditors. It was stated that the external-debt-to-export ratio had reached 951 percent in 1990 and that, between 1986 and 1990, average annual debt-service provisioning amounted to 153 percent of fiscal revenue.
These were not merely statistics. Behind every percentage was a human being.
Behind the debt was a country struggling to pay for the essentials. Behind the arrears were schools, hospitals, roads, water systems and public institutions starved of resources and in a broken state.
Behind the declining economy were families whose wages could no longer sustain them, young people looking overseas for opportunity, professionals leaving the country and a nation watching its quality of life deteriorate.
A fact-finding mission of the Caribbean Conference of Churches, which visited Guyana in the last quarter of 1990, found the country in what it described as a “state of crisis.” It recorded the disrepair of the physical infrastructure, poor water, electricity and telephone services, and the large exodus of teachers.
I relate these things not to reopen old wounds, but to let you understand how far the country had fallen and how difficult the task of rebuilding was to become.
Yet, in the midst of deprivation, Guyanese people did not surrender their democratic aspirations. They organised. They protested. They spoke. They demanded. And they persisted.
The People’s Progressive Party played a central role in that struggle, particularly in pressing for electoral reforms that would make it possible for the votes of Guyanese people to be counted and reflected honestly.
Among the most important demands was that ballots should be counted at the place of poll, rather than being transported to a central location where the chain of custody and counting process could become vulnerable to manipulation, as did occur in general election in 1968, 1973, 1980 and 1985.
There was also agitation for a new voters’ list based on house-to-house enumeration, a restructured and more representative Elections Commission, and the presence of international and local observers.
These reforms did not materialise without struggle. While it is true that
the international community played a decisive role in pressing for them,
democracy was not simply handed to Guyana by outsiders. Guyanese including political parties, religious organization, trade unions, workers and civil society organizations joined the fight for freedom from tyranny.
And yet even October 5 itself was not without drama. The election that was intended to restore democratic legitimacy to Guyana came under serious threat.
During the day, a violent crowd gathered outside the Elections Commission headquarters in Georgetown. Stones and bottles were thrown at the building, forcing the evacuation of international consultants and non-essential staff. Violence and looting were also reported in the capital.
The violence was part of an orchestrated attempt to abort the elections. And later, when it became apparent that the PPP was winning, violence was incited in an attempt to thwart the democratic will of the electorate.
But that attempt, led by a known political rascal, failed. The election continued. The votes were counted. The international observers remained. And the democratic will of the people prevailed.
For the first time in 24 years, free and fair elections were held. Then President Hoyte accepted his party’s defeat and there was a peaceful transfer of power. That was the true triumph of October 5.
The mob did not defeat the ballot.
The violence did not defeat democracy. The past did not defeat the future.
October 5 restored democracy. It restored legitimacy to government.
It restored to Guyanese the right to elect a government of their choice.
It restored Guyana’s international credibility. And it kick-started the process of national reconstruction.
The significance of that day therefore extends far beyond the narrative of who won and who lost.
October 5 was a watershed in our country’s history. It gave Guyana the freedom, the political space and the democratic dividend to pursue people-centred development.
The task that confronted the post-1992 government was monumental. The country had inherited the consequences of years of economic decay, deteriorated social services, destroyed infrastructure, a loss of international credibility and diminished hope.
Reconstruction had to begin almost everywhere. And yet the first condition for reconstruction had been achieved. The people had reclaimed their voice. That made rebuilding possible.
The progress Guyana has experienced since then — in infrastructure, education, health, housing, telecommunications, economic activity, international engagement and social development — cannot be understood separately from the restoration of democracy.
Development requires resources.
But development also requires political legitimacy. It requires the freedom to question government, the freedom to participate and the freedom to choose a government and, when necessary, to change it. Democracy is not an ornament to development. It is one of its foundations.
October 5 gave us an opportunity.
And that opportunity carried another important responsibility. It gave us the duty to continue mending the fractures that had divided our country for generations.
Guyana’s political history has been marked by deep ethnic divisions. The challenge of that division remains relevant today as it was then.
This is why for democracy to become truly transformative, the ballot box must not be the end of our national conversation. It must be the beginning.
My mission as your President is therefore not confined to driving a process of sustainable and inclusive prosperity.
It is also, as I have proclaimed since my first day in office, is to help build a more united Guyana.
That is the purpose of One Guyana.
One Guyana is a national commitment.
It means that the fruits of development must be national in scope and enjoyed by everyone , regardless of race, religious persuasion, political affiliation, class or location.
One Guyana means that our children should inherit a country in which their prospects are determined by their talents, ambitions and the hard work of their own generation.
It means recognising that we can disagree politically without becoming enemies nationally.
It means we can have different political loyalties and still share one national destiny.
Fellow Guyanese,
The era in which Guyana is now living is profoundly different from the Guyana of 1992. We are experiencing growth on a scale that would have been difficult to imagine during those years of economic collapse.
But prosperity creates its own test.
It is not enough to grow. We must grow together.
It is not enough to build. We must build a society in which every Guyanese feels that there is a place for them.
It is not enough to accumulate national wealth. We must convert that wealth into better lives, better opportunities and a more secure future.
The democratic dividend must become a national dividend. And that requires all of us to be part of building an inclusive, sustainable and prosperous future.
The present era of growth and prosperity must — and will — see Guyanese working together, hand in hand, in a genuine process of the meeting of minds.
This does not mean that we must surrender our differences. The true test of democracy is our capacity to accommodate differences.
Creating a unified Guyana does not entail the elimination of political competition. But it does require a higher form of patriotism in which our differences do not prevent us from agreeing on the things that matter most. The things that should matter is that Guyana belongs to all of us; that every child deserves opportunity; that every citizen deserves dignity; that the rule of law imust be respected; that our democracy must be protected; our territory must be safeguarded and that our natural wealth must be used to build a better future for generations yet unborn.
Tomorrow, therefore, we salute October 5th; we salute the political activists who persevered when victory seemed distant; we
salute the trade unionists, religious leaders, civic organisations, farmers, fishermen folk, bauxite workers, public servants, nurses, doctors journalists, lawyers, students, other citizens and the diaspora who kept the flame of freedom alive.
We remember also those who are no longer with us but whose contributions to the fight for freedom will never be forgotten
But there is an even greater tribute we can pay them to them. We must protect what they won.
The men and women who struggled for October 5 did not struggle so that one generation could inherit democracy and another could squander it. They struggled so that every generation could possess the right to determine its own future.
That is our obligation. And our obligation to future generations is even greater.
The generation that fought for democracy crated the opportunity for national reconstruction.
We in turn must give our children a united Guyana. That is why October 5 must be a reminder, a warning, a responsibility. and a promise.
That promise should be that never again should Guyanese people be deprived of the right to freely choose their government.
The promise that political power must always be exercised with respect for the people.
The promise that economic prosperity must be accompanied by social justice and inclusion.
And, above all, the promise that the divisions of our past will not be permitted to determine the possibilities of our future.
Thirty-four years ago, Guyana reclaimed its democratic voice. Today, our task is to ensure that every Guyanese can see themselves in the future we are building.
Let us therefore honour October 5 not merely by looking backward with gratitude, but by looking forward with courage.
Let us build a Guyana in which democracy is secure, prosperity is shared, opportunity is accessible, and national unity is a lived reality.
Let us continue the unfinished work of those who came before us.
And let us make One Guyana become the meeting place of our hopes, the common ground of our differences, and the shared inheritance we leave to our children.
The greatest tribute we can pay to those who fought for October 5, 1992 — and the greatest gift we can give to those who will come after us — is not simply to remember the day democracy was restored but to ensure that democracy, unity and opportunity endure.
October 5 gave us back our vote, our voice, our freedom and it restored hope.
Let us use that voice to build a country that is truly one people, one nation and one destiny.
I thank you and God bless Guyana!
Source: NEW ROOMS SITE
