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Guyana is a parliamentary republic in which the President of Guyana is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the President,advised by a cabinet. Legislative power is vested in both the President and the National Assembly of Guyana. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The history of Guyana begins about 35,000 years ago with the arrival of humans coming from Eurasia. These migrants became the Carib and Arawak tribes,who met Alonso de Ojeda's first expedition from Spain in 1499 at the Essequibo River. In the ensuing colonial era,Guyana's government was defined by the successive policies of the French,Dutch,and British settlers. During the colonial period,Guyana's economy was focused on plantation agriculture,which initially depended on slave labor. Guyana saw major slave rebellions in 1763 and 1823. Following the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833,800,000 enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and South Africa were freed,resulting in plantations contracting indentured workers,mainly from India. Eventually,these Indians joined forces with Afro-Guyanese to demand equal rights in government and society. After the Second World War,the British Empire pursued policy decolonization of its overseas territories,with independence granted to British Guiana on May 26,1966. Following independence,Forbes Burnham rose to power,quickly becoming an authoritarian leader,pledging to bring socialism to Guyana. His power began to weaken following international attention brought to Guyana in wake of the Jonestown mass murder suicide in 1978.
Cheddi Berret Jagan was a Guyanese politician and dentist who was first elected Chief Minister in 1953 and later Premier of British Guiana from 1961 to 1964. He later served as President of Guyana from 1992 to his death in 1997. In 1953,he became the first Hindu and person of Indian descent to be a head of government outside of the Indian subcontinent.
Samuel Archibald Anthony Hinds is a Guyanese politician who was Prime Minister of Guyana almost continuously from 1992 to 2015. He also briefly served as President of Guyana in 1997. He was awarded Guyana's highest national award,the Order of Excellence (O.E.) in 2011.
Brindley Horatio Benn,CCH was a teacher,choirmaster,politician,and one of the key leaders of the Guyanese independence movement. He was put under restriction when the constitution was suspended in 1953. In 1957,Benn served as Minister of Community Development and Education in the first elected government of Guyana,and between 1961 and 1964 as Minister of Natural Resources. From 1993 to 1998,he served as High Commissioner of Guyana to Canada.
Janet Rosenberg Jagan was an American-born Guyanese politician who served as the President of Guyana,serving from December 19,1997,to August 11,1999. She was the first female president of Guyana. She previously served as the first female Prime Minister of Guyana from March 17,1997,to December 19,1997. The wife of Cheddi Jagan,whom she succeeded as president,she was awarded Guyana's highest national award,the Order of Excellence,in 1993,and the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Gold Medal for Women's Rights in 1998.
Hugh Desmond Hoyte was a Guyanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Guyana from 1984 to 1985 and President of Guyana from 1985 until 1992.
Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham was a Guyanese politician and the leader of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana from 1964 until his death in 1985. He served as Premier of British Guiana from 1964 to 1966,Prime Minister of Guyana from 1964 to 1980 and then as the first executive president of Guyana from 1980 to 1985. He is often regarded as a strongman who embraced his own version of socialism.
Elections in Guyana take place within the framework of a multi-party representative democracy and a presidential system. The National Assembly is directly elected,with the nominee of the party or alliance that receives the most votes becoming President.
The People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is a major political party in Guyana. As of 2020,the party holds 33 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly and forms the government. It has been the ruling party in the past as well,most recently between 1992 and 2015. In Guyana's ethnically divided political landscape,the PPP/C is a multi-ethnic organization.
Eusi Kwayana,formerly Sydney King,is a Guyanese politician. A cabinet minister in the People's Progressive Party (PPP) government of 1953,he was detained by the British Army in 1954. Later he left the PPP to form ASCRIA,a Pan-Africanist grassroots political group that,after a brief flirtation with the People's National Congress (PNC) of Forbes Burnham,fused into the Working People's Alliance (WPA). Kwayana is also a playwright.
The Constitution of Guyana is the highest governing document in the Republic of Guyana. It came into effect on October 6,1980,replacing the constitution enacted in 1966 upon its independence from the United Kingdom. The current Constitution of Guyana contains 12 chapters that are further divided into 232 articles. It also contains a preamble and an oath. Since its 1980 enactment,it has gone through multiple amendments.
General elections were held in British Guiana on 27 April 1953. They were the first held under universal suffrage and resulted in a victory for the People's Progressive Party (PPP),which won 18 of the 24 seats in the new House of Assembly. Its leader,Cheddi Jagan,became prime minister.
The House of Assembly was the legislature of British Guiana in the 1950s and 1960s.
Derek Chunilall Jagan was a Guyanese politician and lawyer. He served as Speaker of the National Assembly of Guyana from 1992 to 2000. He died of an apparent heart attack while doing yard work in 2000. He was the younger brother of former Guyanese president Cheddi Jagan.
Jane Phillips-GayCCH was an Afro-Guyanese trade unionist and an ordained minister. She was an advocate of women's rights,formed one of the first women's political organizations in the country and served as one of the first women to be elected as a Member of British Guiana Parliament. She was recognized with the national service honor,the Cacique Crown of Honor in 1975.
Winifred Gaskin,CCH,OD was an Afro-Guyanese educator,journalist and civil servant who entered politics. After a career in public service,she was appointed as the first high commissioner of Guyana to the Commonwealth Caribbean Countries organization. Her dedication to public service was honored with the Jamaican Order of Distinction and the Cacique's Crown of Honour,Guyana's second highest service award.
Peter Stanislaus D'Aguiar was a Guyanese-Portuguese businessman,conservative politician,and minister of finance from 1964 to 1967.
Suzanne Wasserman,was a Chicago-born historian,Professor,writer,and film director. Besides her tenure as Director of the Gotham Center for New York City history,she was also known for her first film,completed in 2003,Thunder in Guyana,which she wrote,produced,and directed. The film documented the life of her mother's first cousin,Chicago-born Janet Rosenberg Jagan,the president of Guyana from 1997 to 1999.
Isahak Basir CCH was a Guyanese historian who was a member of the National Assembly of Guyana from 1977 to 1991. Basir was nicknamed "Uncle Tabrak" and was of Indian descent.
References
- 1 2 Jessie Burnham Beware My Brother
- 1 2 Historical information events & dates on the Parliament of Guyana from 1718 to 2006 Parliament of Guyana
- ↑ Odeen Ishmael (2013) The Guyana Story , p498
- ↑ S. Mawby (2012) Ordering Independence: The End of Empire in the Anglophone Caribbean, 1947-69 p175