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WHAT OUR UNITY PARTY IS ABOUT ?
Dear Friend,
The formation of our party comes at a critical period in Guyana’s history as
we approach 40 years as an independent country. Poverty, division and
hopelessness are the prime factors undermining our nation’s progress. We in
the Unity Party believes wholeheartedly in our motto: “A house divided
against itself cannot stand.”, echoing to us from that great American
President Abraham Lincoln. These words really represent the underlying
solution to Guyana’s problems because without a broad base unity in our
country, we can go nowhere. That is why our party’s number one objective and
primary vision for the future is to bring a unity which Dr. Jagan and Mr.
Burnham achieved in 1953 with a huge electoral victory. We have no doubt
that a real political and social unity can be achieved in order to bring
true economic progress.
Conflict, disagreement and lack of any type of co-operation is today the
hallmark of the political process in Guyana. Combined with the disaster of
the floods the social-economic patterns point to a regression and stagnation
of the country’s development and progress. The current major political
parties, namely the PNC and the PPP are in a headlong clash which will get
the people of the country nowhere. It’s like the old African proverb:
“When two elephants clash it is the grass beneath that gets trampled upon.”
The ‘grass’ is the people of Guyana who are the main victims of this
maelstrom brewing between these two parties. This is underscored by a
subliminal racialism, which is the mechanism of a voter appeal by both
parties at the time of general elections. When will the Guyanese people be
allowed to live in peace and co-operate to create a better future?
• We declare that a new
consensual bipartisan approach is the only answer to progress; we must
bridge old divisions to create a new Guyana.
• We declare that the old divisions and detrimental ideas should be buried
by a new awakening of our youth, women and elderly to a better future, which
must become more optimistic and full of hope.
• We declare that government intervention into the economic life of our
country should be abrogated to create a new innovative spirit based on
entrepreneurship, foreign investment and trade for the good of all and the
formation of a concrete and strong private sector in the country, without
weakening the rights of the workers of Guyana.
• We declare to work for an end to all racial, political and economic
divisions to create a new nationalism based on pride, achievement and
respect for each other in order to cement a new era of Nation Building.
• We declare that force, victimization, fraud, corruption and rascality
should be sins that we Guyanese people will not tolerate in creating a new
and proud Guyana; we must leave those weaknesses behind.
• We declare that to board the “ship” of consensus in order to reach the
“shore” of progress, we must abandon the leaking vessel of disagreement,
which has the nation sinking to despair.
Consensus means putting aside differences and working together for the
common cause of progress through more and more interlocution, while
surrendering some principles for the common good. Progress means better
living conditions for all; better jobs; better education and training for
our youth; better security for our old and infirm; better healthcare for our
sick and injured; better avenues of democratic standards for our future
generations. Consensus and progress can only be achieved within a political
framework of a coalition government for a real future.
In our present state of affairs, progress, consensus and development can
only come by developing radical and rapid changes in our existing
institutions to bring about a more technocratic and able coalition
governmental system.
We must achieve change in order to move on. Old ideas, especially Marxist
and socialist development patterns, have to be discarded completely for
these are the ideas that sunk Guyana into quagmire of too much
centralization, command-type systems, outmoded socialist outlooks and no
real private sector growth.
In so stating the situation as it exists, we of the Unity Party appeal to
you and your friends to join us. Support us in a broad rainbow movement to
end racial and sectarian politics in Guyana by creating a new alignment of
political forces like we had in 1953 when Dr. Jagan, Mr. Burnham and others,
united our country to fight for that noble and lofty goal of independence
and self-government.
Today, our lofty goal is the creation of wealth for out country and the fair
distribution of that wealth so that ALL GUYANESE could enjoy the benefits,
all within the umbrella of democracy and respect. We must unleash the
fundamental drive of every Guyanese to gain self-respect, creativity and
better economic conditions by making the central government smaller while
enhancing the community and village organs to run their own affairs. Thank
you for your attention to our correspondence, and more information will
follow.
Long live Guyana!!!
God Bless all Guyanese,
--
Cheddi (Joey) Jagan,Jr
Leader
February 2005
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