IANS

Georgetown, Mar 21: The Guyana government will bestow the highest civilian award of the country on former president, the late Cheddi Bharat Jagan, son of an ethnic Indian sugar plantation worker.

The Order of Liberation will be posthumously be given to Jagan in recognition of his contribution to the struggle for Guyanese liberation, democracy and national development. The award will be presented to his wife on May 26, Guyana's independence day.

Jagan was the president of Guyana from 1992 to 1997.

During a recent memorial held to observe Jagan's 10th death anniversary, President Bharrat Jagdeo said his administration recognised the immeasurable contributions made by him through literature, the trade union movement and politics, reported GINA, Guyana's information agency.

"One of the dominant legacies of the late head-of-state was his fight to restore democracy and galvanise the Guyanese people together," the president said.

Jagan founded the People's Progressive Party in 1950.

Born on March 22, 1918 in Port Mourant, Berbice, Jagan studied at the Howard University Dental School in Washington DC and the Northwestern University in Chicago before returning home in the early 1940s to embark on a political career.