ABSTRACT
Both Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham were invited to the Ghana independence day celebrations in 1957. Jagan tried to entice Sydney King back into the People’s Progressive Party by proposing to support him in the Central Demerara constituency. Feeling that his industrialization schemes were being frustrated, Jagan turned to agriculture. Many Guyanese still yearned for a rapprochement between Burnham and Jagan. While liking Jagan personally, the British would still have preferred to see him defeated because of the complications caused by his communist leanings. Yet, Jagan insisted, parliamentary democracy must be retained and a section on fundamental rights was essential in British Guiana’s independence constitution. He pointed with pride to the four-year development plan that would span the years from 1960 to 1964. There is nothing more important than education in creating a sense of national unity and purpose, and, to Jagan, the church schools were a source of division.
