– calls for shared prosperity, national unity on 34th anniversary of October 5, 1992 elections

His Excellency Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali said Guyana’s rapid economic growth must reach every citizen, pledging to spend the rest of his term visiting every community to unite the nation.

The president made the call in an address to the nation on Sunday evening, on the eve of the 34th anniversary of the October 5, 1992, elections that ended the 28-year-long hold of the People’s National Congress (PNC). It was the first free and fair elections in post-independent Guyana.

“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,” President Ali said.

He continued, “It is not enough to accumulate national wealth. We must convert that wealth into better lives, better opportunities, and a more secure future.”

He said his One Guyana vision does not ask citizens to give up political competition.

Instead, “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,” the president said.

The president also warned against social media being used to stoke hate and division.  He urged citizens to tell their own story and build the country’s future together.

President Ali paid tribute to the activists, trade unionists, religious leaders, farmers, fisherfolk, bauxite workers, public servants, health workers, journalists, students and members of the diaspora who kept the struggle alive. He said the greatest tribute to them is to protect what they won.

“October 5th gave us back our vote, our voice, our freedom, and restored hope. Let us use that voice to build a country that is truly one people, one nation, and one destiny,” he said.

He pledged to dedicate the next four-plus years of his term to visiting every village and community in an effort to bring the country together.

The head of state traced the country’s progress back to 1992, when Guyana emerged from decades of rigged elections and economic collapse.

By 1989, the country’s external debt had reached about 925 per cent of its gross domestic product. Between 1986 and 1990, debt servicing was averaged 153 per cent of fiscal revenue.

“Behind the arrears were schools, hospitals, roads, water systems, and public institutions starved of resources and in a broken state,” he said.

On election day, a crowd stoned the elections commission headquarters in Georgetown and international consultants were evacuated. However, the count went ahead, and then-President Desmond Hoyte accepted defeat.

“The mob did not defeat the ballot. The violence did not defeat democracy. The past did not defeat the future,” President Ali declared.

He linked the gains made since then in infrastructure, education, health and housing directly to the return of free and fair elections.

“Democracy is not an ornament to development. It is one of its foundations,” he said.

In the 1992 elections, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) won 28 of the 53 seats in the National Assembly and 53.5 per cent of the votes cast.