Skip to main content

FM
Former Member
‘Appreciation’
By STABROEK STAFF | EDITORIAL | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2011

In the late 1970s, then Prime Minister Forbes Burnham wanted to celebrate the anniversary of his years in Parliament. He decided on a march-past in front of the Parliament Building and down Brickdam comprising the students of the Georgetown secondary-age schools, nearly all of which did comply, although not necessarily with a full complement in every instance. One school, however, was notably absent – one or two boys excepted – and that was his own alma mater, Queen’s College. According to the grapevine at the time, Mr Burnham was not amused, and may have suspected that a deliberately organised act of resistance had made itself manifest. There wasn’t one. It was simply that the authorities in QC, after having informed the students in an assembly about what was required of them, failed to put the mechanisms in place – especially prefects – to see they arrived at the departure point for the march-past. As a consequence, the children, displaying that instinctive common sense which so often eludes their elders, simply disappeared off home.

It was the only time that Mr Burnham indulged his narcissistic tendencies directly, although there were plenty of other occasions (particularly after he became president) that allowed him to bask in indirect self-homage such as when there were special celebrations like those associated with Republic – which was in convenient proximity to his birthday. There were too, of course, plenty visiting heads of government offering openings for public displays. If it was difficult to swallow at the time, compared to the praises lavished on President Jagdeo on Friday, it was really restrained. And the compulsory march-past, while it could not be defended, was certainly cheap to mount.

Not so, the Day of Appreciation for President Jagdeo which took place at the National Stadium on Friday. Minister Irfaan Ali, who seems to have been one of the leading lights behind the whole exercise, told the media last Saturday that it was a “very costly activity,” although he hastened to add that no state resources would be used for the event. He seemed to have overlooked the fact that the army and police who performed for the ceremony, are a state resource, in addition to which, with all those motorcades and crowds, there would have been extra police on duty along the East Bank, and taxpayers would have met this cost too. For their part, the police unintentionally suggested a further possible expense: the escorting of the vehicle convoys from Berbice, Essequibo, West Demerara and Linden. And is not the National Stadium per se a state resource, added to which aren’t there extra expenses involved when it is in use?

But for the rest, where did the money come from for this extravaganza? That was not made absolutely clear by the organizers, although Hits and Jams, it seems, provided sound and lighting for the event. Certainly no wealthy friends or business associates of the government – or other business entities, for that matter – were actually named as having provided the funds for this extravaganza. If they think so highly of the President and this is supposed to be such a spontaneous, genuine gesture, they should put their mouths where their money is and reveal themselves.

That apart, the press was led to believe that ordinary citizens too put their hands in their pockets for the occasion. “People are pooling their money to pay for gasoline for canters, trucks and the rest of it to be able to come. I think Guyana has grown and matured to the point where people don’t have to wait for charity for them to participate,” Bishop Juan Edghill effused. He can, of course, talk blue cheese, but no self-respecting Guyanese believes that thousands of villagers up and down the coast, even if they could raise the money, would be able to organize themselves on that scale in terms of vehicles, boat schedules, etc. That needs a central organizing hand, which would either have to be the government or the PPP or both. It is almost certain that it was the ruling party (perhaps with limited government assistance in specific areas), making it a party political event.

The subterranean political character of the occasion was inadvertently confirmed by Bishop Edghill. He told the media last Saturday that “Some of the persons who have contacted me as one of the organizers of this activity are not people who have voted for Bharrat Jagdeo for President.” If it is a non-political event, as the organizers are at pains to claim, why should it be necessary to identify the political persuasion of some attendees? And in any case, who are these people who contacted the Bishop with a view presumably to finding out about arrangements for the celebration and then found it necessary to divulge that they didn’t vote for Mr Jagdeo? It is all very curious.

It was the MP Mervyn Williams who on Friday said in a letter to this newspaper that he had a “grave difficulty” with the “abuse” of state resources (ie the National Stadium) for partisan political purposes immediately prior to elections. He put his finger on the major problem with this whole pantomime. This is a political performance, directed among others, at the party’s rural constituents, so their enthusiasm is rekindled and that enthusiasm will then infect their fellow residents in the villages. What the governing party fears most in these elections, is not cross-over voting, but voter apathy. Since the PPP took office the problem has always been that there is no level playing field for political campaigning, and nowadays the situation has become so bad that the gradient of the slope on the field is impossibly steep for the opposition.

In a true democracy, any ‘celebration’ on the scale of that held on Friday, if it can be justified at all, should first of all be a completely private initiative; secondly, should be held after the election and not before; and thirdly, should not make use of a national asset such as the stadium unless its rental is to be fully met from private sources. But there is something else too. Mr Williams referred to the event as being in “bad taste.” He was being polite. One can only marvel that the organizers and even Mr Jagdeo himself did not give way to a moment of unease that perhaps all these panegyrics were incongruous with someone holding the position of elected head of a supposedly democratic republic.

Apart from the flawed nature of the President’s record, to which a number of letter-writers in this newspaper have made allusion, Friday’s exercise would have been rejected even by royalty as being unseemly. But then perhaps this whole show had less the aroma of imperial Rome about it, and more the whiff of North Korea. Certainly previous presidents have been very unostentatious, eschewing pretentiousness in all its forms – with the arguable exception of Burnham, and, as already noted, even he had nothing of the scale of Friday’s performance to his credit.

Mr Carvil Duncan waxed lyrical about the occasion, telling reporters that this was for future generations, “so that they will follow suit what we are starting today.” Perish the thought. The next time anyone makes a proposal for an event of this kind, hopefully everyone will exercise the simple common sense which the QC students demonstrated more than three decades ago.

Source

Replies sorted oldest to newest

AFC Executive Member Gerhard Ramsaroop as he distributes flyers
By STABROEK STAFF | PHOTOS | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2011



AFC Executive Member Gerhard Ramsaroop as he distributes flyers to members of the public near the National Stadium, the venue for yesterday’s ‘Day of Appreciation’ for President Bharrat Jagdeo. The AFC protested the event. (Anjuli Persaud photo)

Source
FM
quote:
Originally posted by Gerhard Ramsaroop:
AFC Executive Member Gerhard Ramsaroop as he distributes flyers
By STABROEK STAFF | PHOTOS | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2011



AFC Executive Member Gerhard Ramsaroop as he distributes flyers to members of the public near the National Stadium, the venue for yesterday’s ‘Day of Appreciation’ for President Bharrat Jagdeo. The AFC protested the event. (Anjuli Persaud photo)

Source


Well done Gerhard.

You are driving shivers down the golaith spine.

This giant is at tipping point continue to share the KEY Garhard "THE DAVID" Ramsaroop.
FM
I heard that Jagdoe is to join the AFC and take the leadership from Ramattan. Is this true? Can someone from the AFC confirm? Will this be violating the constitution by being considered a 3rd run? It will certainly give the AFC a boost in the arm to have Jagdeo at the helm.
FM
Gerhard,

You did very well bro. BTW, the message is out all over Guyana. My parents (in their 70s) finally acknowledged the Oligarch-in-Chief could go to jail. My cousin returned from Linden and that's the word all over town. Remember focus on the 24% independent voters.
T
quote:
Originally posted by TK_REDUX:
Gerhard,

You did very well bro. BTW, the message is out all over Guyana. My parents (in their 70s) finally acknowledged the Oligarch-in-Chief could go to jail. My cousin returned from Linden and that's the word all over town. Remember focus on the 24% independent voters.
Thanks TK, and that is exactly what I focused on. Many of the people passing and driving by would have been among those independents and expressed appreciation that we were objecting to Appreciation Day.
FM
quote:
Originally posted by Gerhard Ramsaroop:


Source




An interesting cartoon. Junior Kong's complete political career was built on people underestimating him. From Janet Jagan to Hoyte they all did not know that Junior Kong was a very strategic thinker. He had the ability to see politicians weaknesses and exploit them to the fullest.
FM
quote:
Originally posted by Gerhard Ramsaroop:
quote:
Originally posted by TK_REDUX:
Gerhard,

You did very well bro. BTW, the message is out all over Guyana. My parents (in their 70s) finally acknowledged the Oligarch-in-Chief could go to jail. My cousin returned from Linden and that's the word all over town. Remember focus on the 24% independent voters.
Thanks TK, and that is exactly what I focused on. Many of the people passing and driving by would have been among those independents and expressed appreciation that we were objecting to Appreciation Day.


Correct! Agree...that is why it was so important to be there.
T
Some people get Pleasure when they make an ASS of themselves. partybanana
quote:
Originally posted by Gerhard Ramsaroop:
AFC Executive Member Gerhard Ramsaroop as he distributes flyers
By STABROEK STAFF | PHOTOS | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2011



AFC Executive Member Gerhard Ramsaroop as he distributes flyers to members of the public near the National Stadium, the venue for yesterday’s ‘Day of Appreciation’ for President Bharrat Jagdeo. The AFC protested the event. (Anjuli Persaud photo)

Source
Nehru
quote:
Originally posted by Nehru:
Some people get Pleasure when they make an ASS of themselves. partybanana
quote:
Originally posted by Gerhard Ramsaroop:
AFC Executive Member Gerhard Ramsaroop as he distributes flyers
By STABROEK STAFF | PHOTOS | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2011



AFC Executive Member Gerhard Ramsaroop as he distributes flyers to members of the public near the National Stadium, the venue for yesterday’s ‘Day of Appreciation’ for President Bharrat Jagdeo. The AFC protested the event. (Anjuli Persaud photo)

Source


Excellent self analysis Pavi. But, quite frankly we are more than a bit tired of your one liner routine. Any possibility you can post something of substance?
FM
NO. Canecutters gat to be cutting cane for a day's pay. Abee nah gat time. partybanana
quote:
Originally posted by Rahmah bin Jabr:
quote:
Originally posted by Nehru:
Some people get Pleasure when they make an ASS of themselves. partybanana
quote:
Originally posted by Gerhard Ramsaroop:
AFC Executive Member Gerhard Ramsaroop as he distributes flyers
By STABROEK STAFF | PHOTOS | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2011



AFC Executive Member Gerhard Ramsaroop as he distributes flyers to members of the public near the National Stadium, the venue for yesterday’s ‘Day of Appreciation’ for President Bharrat Jagdeo. The AFC protested the event. (Anjuli Persaud photo)

Source


Excellent self analysis Pavi. But, quite frankly we are more than a bit tired of your one liner routine. Any possibility you can post something of substance?
Nehru
quote:
Originally posted by Nehru:
NO. Canecutters gat to be cutting cane for a day's pay. Abee nah gat time. partybanana
quote:
Originally posted by Rahmah bin Jabr:
quote:
Originally posted by Nehru:
Some people get Pleasure when they make an ASS of themselves. partybanana
quote:
Originally posted by Gerhard Ramsaroop:
AFC Executive Member Gerhard Ramsaroop as he distributes flyers
By STABROEK STAFF | PHOTOS | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2011



AFC Executive Member Gerhard Ramsaroop as he distributes flyers to members of the public near the National Stadium, the venue for yesterday’s ‘Day of Appreciation’ for President Bharrat Jagdeo. The AFC protested the event. (Anjuli Persaud photo)

Source


Excellent self analysis Pavi. But, quite frankly we are more than a bit tired of your one liner routine. Any possibility you can post something of substance?


I understand Bhai. Continue filling out them time sheets for that administrative union job at dat Ivy League Community College.
FM
Celebrating Our Shame at $120 Million
SEPTEMBER 18, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER AFC COLUMN, FEATURES / COLUMNISTS
By Khemraj Ramjattan, Presidential Candidate

The legendary Argentine writer, Jorge Luis Borges, during the first populist regime of Juan Peron, summed up the political atmosphere of repression under the dictator thusly: “Dictatorships breed oppression, dictatorships breed servility, dictatorships breed cruelty; more loathsome still is the fact that they breed idiocy. Bellboys babbling orders, portraits of caudillos, prearranged cheers or insults, walls covered with names, unanimous ceremonies…”

As Bharrat Jagdeo’s regime comes to a close, it appears that the worst aspects of 1950s Peronism have amplified and drifted northward to 21st century Guyana. Instead of just bellboys babbling orders, we have dubiously qualified people in senior positions in every sector of the state machinery; instead of portraits of our own caudillo and his would-be successor, we have entire billboards of them; instead of prearranged cheers and insults we have NCN and Guyana Chronicle and Guyana Times singing the government’s praises while shamelessly attacking the least criticism. And on Friday, we had the grandest ceremony of all, the President’s Appreciation Day. Even as it was launched, the organisers were forced to be on the defensive, with questions about the organizing committee, the funding, and the propriety of the event. The event itself has not put those concerns to rest.

We at the Alliance For Change find as highly unethical that Chairman of the Ethnic Relations Committee, ‘Bishop’ Juan Edghill, would be involved in this. From a theological perspective, Edghill’s citation of biblical support – given at the first press conference on the event – is tenuous at best when he says that “The Bible establishes that all persons in authority are there because God wants them to be in authority and there is no way appreciating a president who’s about to demit office could be deemed taking sides.” By the good Bishop’s logic, the God of the Bible takes an uncritical view to political authority, and so the administrations of Stalin and Hitler were equal in God’s eyes to those of Václav Havel and Nelson Mandela.

We should notice that PPP Parliamentarian and fellow clergyman, Reverend Kwame Gilbert stayed away from endorsing Edghill’s position in his nevertheless shameless endorsement of the Appreciation Ceremony in a letter to the Guyana Chronicle last week. We leave it to the respective congregations of Edghill and Gilbert to judge the Christian value of these two gentlemen’s celebration of a President whose tenure has been marked by unpunished corruption and a flourishing of the vicious and murderous narcotics trade.

More important to the country at large is that Edghill, as the de facto Chairman of the Ethnic Relations Commission, would be so bold-faced as to claim that his organizing of the event should be seen as impartial. The very reason for setting up the ERC in the first place was because of the devastating effect that race-based politics – as perpetuated by the two major political parties – was and still is having on Guyana. The ERC Chairman’s supposedly objective involvement conveniently ignores the fact that the President is the highest-ranking Central Committee member of a race-based party – the PPP – that is contesting a national elections. He also ignores the fact the Presidential candidate of that party, Donald Ramotar, continues to enjoy the enthusiastic endorsement of President Jagdeo. Edghill’s involvement cannot be seen as anything less than the ERC Chairman’s endorsement of Ramotar by proxy, and at the height of the elections season – it is indecent, unethical and immoral.

Then there is Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali, asserting that no state resources were being utilized in the execution of the event. Ali complains that interrogation of the minutiae of the funding and other support of this private event – whether or not State resources are being used – is an indication of the slide in journalistic standards in Guyana. Someone needs to remind the Minister that the interrogation of “minutiae” is the heart and soul of public accountability of taxpayer funds, even if it is not adhered to by the good minister himself. It is the purview and duty of any decent media to interrogate who paid for the gas used in transporting material and people for the event; who paid for the aviation fuel used in the paratrooping exercise; and who paid overtime and meals for the many government workers used in coordinating this event. We trust that the organisers, in the spirit of openness and accountability – a sine qua non of the sort of great leadership they claim to be celebrating – are going to release the final expenditure of what was spent on Friday, as well as a human resource audit of those involved.

Outside of direct and indirect financial costs attached to the project, we know for a fact that staff of several state entities, including the Ministry of Culture, were subject to direction of members of the organizing committee. When the so-called ordinary citizen, or even extraordinary citizens, can insert themselves at will into the structure of executive authority of a taxpayer-funded government entity, then our democracy and our rule of law would have failed.

Secondly, that the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) should not only take part in this, but also claim this initiative as originating from it, is beyond shameful and absurd. Let us put this fiasco into the perspective that Carvil Duncan and his colleagues at FITUG seem to be missing: Our intelligence says that – and the organizing committee is of course free to release figures to refute this – some $120 million was spent to pull off the Appreciation. That money could have paid the salaries – at $40,000 a month – of 50 teachers, or policemen, or firemen, or nurses, or sugar workers for the next five years. This is the same Carvil Duncan, who earlier this year on Labour Day committed to be vigilant in protecting the interests, financial and otherwise, of workers. Of course, Mr. Duncan may argue that the money has been raised privately – we leave it to him to explain to his membership the working class logic of taking from the rich and giving to celebrate the richer.

That said, even the concept of the exclusive private funding of Celebharration – were it completely true – was almost unbelievably obscene in its execution. While Edghill, Duncan, and Ali – gentlemen with whom tact and sincerity have not been known to be fast friends – claim with a straight face that there has been no duress on the business community, the AFC has learned firsthand that several contributors have made donations not out of support but of fear of the aptly demonstrated vindictiveness of the Jagdeo regime. A band of 19th century, protection-racket era, New York gangsters – complete with requisite official, clerical, and teamster support – could not have come up with and implemented a better ‘fund-raising’ scheme.

Then there is the role of the PPP Presidential Candidate, Donald Ramotar in all of this. Of recent, Mr. Ramotar – even while hanging on to President Jagdeo’s coattails in and out of Guyana – has adopted a strategy of a nuanced ignorance and increasingly implausible deniability when it comes to the excesses of the man he is trying to succeed: the damning cables reveal ‘nothing new’; and while he heard of convicted drug dealer Roger Khan, it never crossed his mind to ask Jagdeo about the exact nature of the relationship, despite Khan’s taking out several full page ads in national newspapers claiming to be working with the security forces of the country Mr. Ramotar’s party governs.

Mr. Ramotar is proving to be the ultimate straw candidate, and has lost any moral claim to campaign as a successor to the policies of Cheddi Jagan. By his endorsement of this parade of arrogance and insensitivity to the plight of the average Guyanese citizen, the PPP General Secretary and Presidential Candidate – Mr. Jagdeo’s current shadow and future proxy – has given us a clear indication of what life under his regime of “continued progress” will be.
Finally, there is the President himself. Leaders across the world leave office after their constitutionally mandated limit is up. They do so with humility, pride at their tenure of service, and gratitude that they were given an opportunity to serve the people. That is what they were elected to do. US Presidents George W. Bush. and his predecessor Bill Clinton both stepped down after their constitutionally limited terms of office, and were not celebrated for doing so, either in or out of office.

Or, if it is that the People’s Progressive Party would like an example closer to its bosom, when Janet Jagan stepped down from the Presidency in 1999 – which act saw the ascension of Jagdeo – it was after almost a half-century of involvement, leadership and self-sacrifice in the politics of Guyana. She was not awarded any grand public parade nor would she have wanted one; neither would have Cheddi Jagan – we challenge Donald Ramotar to tell us differently.

Of course, the argument has been made by the committee that Jagdeo deserves celebration for signing into law the term limit which would affect him and prevent him from running for the Presidency again. This is an insult to every single parliamentarian and member of civil society that worked on the Constitution Reform Commission – as President of Guyana, it was his job to sign into law the consensus arrived at by national lawmakers, particularly one aimed at further refining the democratic process; he was not some divinely mandated ruler, despite what Edghill and Gilbert would have us believe, stepping down from the throne of heaven in the interests of his people. He wasn’t doing Guyanese any great favour – had he not signed, he would have been in defiance of Parliament and would have faced massive opposition from every quarter of society.

A truly great leader – if it is that a group of independent and well-meaning citizens sought to honour him – would have humbly suggested that the funds raised be donated towards some worthier cause benefitting the legions of poor people whom his much-touted “sound macro-economic fundamentals” have yet to touch. Instead, Bharrat Jagdeo believes that the most fitting send off for him would be a $120 million going away party, after which he will retire on a $3 million a month salary, plus other lifetime benefits paid for by the taxpayer.

If there is anything the organisers of this shameless spectacle are right about, it is the claim that this is indeed precedent setting. It sets a precedent for hubris. It sets a precedent for presidential self-indulgence. It sets a precedent for quisling complicity – by so-called religious and working class leaders – in an indecent and immoral spectacle of waste and extravagance. It sets a precedent for the blurring of the lines between the whims of political cronies and sycophants, and the legitimate authority of the state.

Friday needs to be remembered as a Day of Shame for all Guyana. It showed the failure of our state systems, the spirit of our Constitution in particular; it showed that many of our corporate citizens were being subjected to a Mafioso-like extortion by a sickening, debased cabal of government members and Presidential yes-men; it showed the blatant and unapologetic usurpation of our State resources. Friday, September 16th, 2011 was the day our fledgling democracy failed.

We in the Alliance For Change are calling on all right-minded Guyanese – including those few still left in the corridors of Freedom House – to recognize this downward spiral for what it is, and join us in our struggle to end it now. We are all involved, and we can all be consumed.

Source
FM
Jagdeo regime has taken vulgarity to a new level
SEPTEMBER 19, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER LETTERS

Dear Editor,

The feeling among Guyanese that the lawlessness and vulgarity that have come to characterize the PPP/C government cannot get any worse is constantly proven false by new excesses from the Jagdeo regime. No civilize country organizes ‘national worshipping ceremonies’ for their outgoing leaders to thank them for what is merely doing the job they were elected to do.

This is even more unlikely to occur in a country such as Guyana where, when all is considered, the president has been a complete failure.
The obscene display at the National Stadium last Friday has taken the vulgarity of the Jagdeo regime to a whole new level. The President and his apologists routinely condone and encourage the misuse of state funds and resources to further the political agenda of the PPP/C.

The circus that was held ‘in appreciation of the president’ is the most recent example of this despicable trend. Massive state resources, including that of the already cash-starved GDF, GPF and GUYSUCO were used to pull off this soiree. At the end of the day, it is us, the taxpayers who will have to pick up this filthy bill. Let us put an end to the decline of our beloved country and vote these scoundrels out of office this year. That is the only hope for a better and brighter Guyana, free from lawlessness and widespread corruption.

Gaitree Persaud

Source
FM
quote:
Originally posted by Demerara_Guy:
quote:




AFC candidate making a speech under the direction of Forbes Burnham. Big Grin


You dont seem to recognize your hero BhaRAT Jagdeo AKA Baby Kong, under the tutelage of his mentor Forbes Bunrham AKA Kong Kong.
FM
quote:
Originally posted by Gerhard Ramsaroop:
quote:
Originally posted by TK_REDUX:
Gerhard,

You did very well bro. BTW, the message is out all over Guyana. My parents (in their 70s) finally acknowledged the Oligarch-in-Chief could go to jail. My cousin returned from Linden and that's the word all over town. Remember focus on the 24% independent voters.
Thanks TK, and that is exactly what I focused on. Many of the people passing and driving by would have been among those independents and expressed appreciation that we were objecting to Appreciation Day.



GR handing out fliers is one thing. Most people arent rude.


Proving that you can attract crowds in PNC areas is more interesting. You can claim the PPP areas are scared of what PPP goons might do. PPP goons cant do a thing in PNC strongholds.
FM
Bharrat Jagdeo is reluctant to lose power
SEPTEMBER 19, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER LETTERS

Dear Editor,

In a country of murder, killing, blood-spilling and the meagre valueless nature of life, one of the great murders of democracy, dignity, decency and humility took place on Friday, September 16, 2011. A crime of misplaced agendas, egotistical self-promotion, power paranoia and wanton and arrogant display of vanity, hubris, conceit, waste and pomposity took place on Friday, September 16, 2011. Even Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham for all his self-indulgent self-homage, his narcissism and his rank wallowing in showmanship, never went to this extreme, debauched and shocking level of sinfulness that took place on Friday, September 16, 2011. This was not just a barefaced act of deluded grandeur, it was an act that asked a serious moral question of a nation and demanded economic and financial answers.

The moral question is whether Guyanese saw this atrocity for what it was, whether they were able to see the dangerous hypocrisy of a President spending lavishly what may appear to be not only the money of his backers but the money of all taxpayers, while they remain behind bars in their own land frightened and sweating at the sound of a barking dog in the middle of the night. The financial question is simple: who paid for this event? We need proof just like we need proof from President Jagdeo that he purchased the 29 tons of materials be received from Ed Ahmad.

It is a moment of truth for those who were so broke and destitute that they denied themselves a meal last night or ate less or could not afford the price of sugar or couldn’t afford to eat chicken this week because of the indentureship of life in this savage land of inequality created by Bharrat Jagdeo. For this is about whether the Guyanese people who have eyes can ever finally see the bold courage of the truth; whether those who have some dignity and truth left can reap something from it. The pattern of the past few years has strongly suggested that Bharrat Jagdeo is reluctant to lose power.

The question remains whether he is truly leaving. Donald Ramotar whose puppetry and coattail-hanging has become a bigger joke than the APNU masquerade, said he sees Jagdeo sticking around. I cannot see Jagdeo sticking around and playing second fiddle. Someone will have to get stuck with a dirty knife in their back, and like with Julius Caesar, there will be blood as long as this perfidious union of Ramotar and Jagdeo persist. This con game will backfire spectacularly in the end and this country will suffer terribly for it.

One presidential candidate claims that approximately $120 million was spent on the Appreciation Day mayhem. I hope those who appreciated a man who may not really ever leave the halls of power, appreciated living in a cage in absolute fear in their own homes in a country of criminality, abuse, wrongdoing and fear created by the same appreciated leader. I hope they appreciate paying that massive mortgage payment due on September 30th or October 1st for which they must commit senseless acts of sacrifice against themselves while a day of dancing, chest-thumping, music, wine and bacchanal honouring a man who is leaving office but not really leaving power was a mortgage possibly paid for by their taxes. This man, our President, Bharrat Jagdeo, will allegedly get a shocking $3 million per month in pension when he retires.

For those who will get $40,000 per month to dodge bullets, save lives and cut cane in the sweltering heat in a cost of living nightmare called Guyana, that figure should sicken you to the stomach. US $15,000 every month, tax free. Leaving office at the young age of 47, gives Bharrat Jagdeo at least 20 years of pension collecting. Poor people of this country better be prepared to hand over that 33% income tax plus 16% VAT plus corruption payments plus high cost of living disbursements to give Mr. Jagdeo the at least $720 million or US $3.6 million in pension he will collect in those 20 years.

Seven hundred and twenty million dollars in 20 years, tax free, to a man whose 11-year presidency has given you unbridled criminality, a crushing VAT, skyrocketing inflation and destructive cost of living increases, stripping your dignity and the unfair and corrupt transfer of your taxes from all of you to the few lucky contractors, some of them with their hands in the right pockets. This retirement pension that Jageo has given himself is another one of those contracts his administration has become infamous for. It is another case of the exploitative and tragic taking from all and giving to a few select and in this case, giving to one.

Which decent human being, living in the second poorest Western Hemisphere country, where the majority poor people cannot afford the price of chicken and cannot find sugar on the shelves and are living in complete and utter fear of being killed every single day and are living on slave wages, gives himself $3 million dollars every month in pension? How could the PPP party and its members sitting in the National Assembly approve this travesty? A man who destroyed a country and left it in the hands and control of drug cartels pays himself $3 million every month, while pensioners who have served and slaved in the trenches of this country for longer than Bharrat Jagdeo, are being handed a gross insult of $7500 every month and told they are getting manna from God.

The orgy doesn’t end there. Bharrat Jagdeo gave himself other benefits including unlimited telephone and electricity bills; personal, household, field and administrative staff; medical expenses for himself and dependants; security for his person and residence; motor vehicles owned and maintained by the state; toll-free travel in Guyana; and annual vacation allowance. These benefits could saddle taxpayers with a staggering additional $400 million over those 20 years. The grand total for 20 years of this debauchery is a total of $1.12 billion. All this for a man who obtained $120 million for a home he sold and who got over $100 million in tax free salary as President for over 10 years when he essentially lived mostly free off the state.

This is a moment of truth for those who slave away in this broken and failed country Jagdeo has created to lift their heads from their marginalisation, inequality and servility and ask themselves whether it is fair for them to collect $7500 per month when they retire while a President who has decimated this country and buried its hope will get over $1 billion in retirement. Those who lift their heads have to stand up for themselves and take what is rightfully theirs before it is all taken away from them. This election is about the moral-minded of this country, including those within the PPP standing up to Bharrat Jagdeo and his political stooge Donald Ramotar just like they stood up to Forbes Burnham. Cheddi and Janet Jagan never did this. Desmond Hoyte never did this. This is about the people vs. Bharrat Jagdeo and the people vs. Donald Ramotar.

M. Maxwell

Source
FM
Did Jagdeo venture too far ahead of the pack?
SEPTEMBER 18, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER FEATURES/COLUMNISTS, MY COLUMN

A friend once said to me, “If you are going to lead, don’t run too far ahead of your followers because suddenly there would be nothing to lead.” It made sense immediately. I thought of the situations in ground battles and had a mental picture of the leader charging well ahead of his men. Pretty soon he would cease to be a leader because he would be dead. But for all the admonition to leaders, many keep running too far ahead of the following. When this happens and the leader is so far out of sight, then the next best person is automatically thrust into the leadership position.

These thoughts came into my head this past week when I saw the letters in the press, the advertisements and the road paintings that greeted the news that President Bharrat Jagdeo was going to be recognized for his contributions to the society. I remember when he became President of this country in 1999 as a mere lad of 36, there was so much going for him. People readily accepted the fact that here was a young man leading a young nation and presenting himself as a role model to the vast majority of people who happened to be below the age of 35 in the country.

He set about continuing the task of rebuilding the economy. He got unprecedented debt relief, secured loans at an amazing rate, and set about repairing the infrastructure. He had a vision of a Guyana entering the 21st Century not too far behind the others in the region. There was not enough space for people to sing his praises. Anywhere he went crowds gathered. He seemed to be liked by even people who might not have voted for his party. I saw him at Afro-centric events where he emerged as the star attraction. Young people raced to pose for photographs with him. It was the same at all other public events. Indeed, there was the sniping, but these were nothing compared to the accolades that he was attracting. He became a leader on the regional stage. I still hear the applause when he dealt with the Suriname border issue at the Caricom summit. He was magnanimous to the Suriname delegation.

Things started to unravel at home when he set about the task of rebuilding the country. There were the contracts which have now become objects of query. People started to complain that the government was spending money and getting little in turn. Roads deteriorated as soon as they were constructed, projects were left unfinished to the point where other contractors had to be invited to complete the task. Surprisingly, there were no stated sanctions, with the result that people began to accuse the president of condoning deceit and corruption. The political opposition could not ask for more and suddenly this became an issue. The president remained silent.

Huge sums were expended on other projects that failed to yield the desired results. There was the multi-million-dollar Good Hope/Supenaam stelling. It failed at the first try. There were finger pointing and threats of sanctions. None materialized. People had another talking point.
But even before this there was the Skeldon sugar factory. It cost a lot of money and it too failed to deliver the desired goods. Again, because President Jagdeo was instrumental in securing the loan, he became the whipping boy. We hear that the factory was over-priced and that people benefited financially. The same was said of numerous other projects, not least among them the acquisition of computers for the various institutions.

Even the One Laptop Per Family project, which is a well thought out and much needed programme, has come in for severe scrutiny. Again the cost of the project is being questioned and again not much has been forthcoming from the officials about details. The Amaila Falls road project and many other large projects, all extremely important to the development of the country, became targets. They were seen as facilitators of corruption. The silence that followed the charges only served to fuel the contentions.

The truth is that President Jagdeo wanted so much for Guyana that he refused to bicker over the cost. He allowed his Ministers and others to undertake the nitty gritty of the exercise. He had gone too far too fast, and therefore attracted hostility from the critics and charges of corruption from those who appeared to have an interest in the way money from the public treasury was being spent. The Roger Khan era did not help him either. In a polarized society this is bound to happen. Scores of people of one ethnic group died and the blame was laid squarely at the foot of Roger Khan. President Jagdeo said that he never met the man, but correspondence out of the United States embassy suggested otherwise.

The result is that there is now a strong opposition base that refuses to target the ruling party, choosing instead to target the Head of State. And here again we have an example of a man who moved too far ahead of his party. It was the same with Forbes Burnham. He got the blame for everything because he was bigger than his party. Desmond Hoyte was different. The party got the blame and Hoyte remained above the fray.
The road paintings on Appreciation Day tell the story. No accusation against the PPP but all against Jagdeo.

This is reminiscent of the Greek myth about Icarus and his father Daedalus. Icarus flew too high and perished. He got too close to the sun and the wax on the wings his father had made for him to escape from Crete, melted. President Jagdeo must be Guyana’s modern day Icarus. And there is something else. The police were supposed to be patrolling the streets. How is it that not one patrol came across the street painters?

Source
FM
Fantasies unfolding into tomorrow’s tragedies
SEPTEMBER 8, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER FEATURES/COLUMNISTS, FREDDIE KISSOON

The first essay I wrote as a university freshman at UG was on Nazi Germany. My professor was Guyanese Catholic Nun, Sister Mary Noel Menezies. During the discussion of my essay, I told Sister Menezies that the magnitude of the atrocities committed upon the Germany people by Adolph Hitler could not have been possible without the participation at some stage, of the German people. She answered in the affirmative but asked me; “Did they agree willingly?” She went on to explain how a cabal of repressive, ruthless leaders can drive fear into a nation. I went on to read philosophy books on fear and I came to grips with Sister’s valuable point.

Today, I live in a country where a leader, dominated and destroyed by the inner layers of mediocrity, is driven by delusions of grandeur to the point where his failures will be celebrated at the National Stadium on September 16 in a pyrotechnical display of coruscation that masks the tragedies he has created and which will bedevil this nation for a long time to come. Fear will be the key in the success of what Mr. Jagdeo’s acolytes have termed a Day of Appreciation. Army and police personnel will be performing. State officials will have to be there. A circus will be staged to attract a large crowd.

The irony of the entire event is that there is nothing to celebrate. The invitation to the Day of Celebration is littered with Freudian meaning. The President is addressed as Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo. This denotes the frenetic pursuit of image and credibility; qualities and possessions with which Mr. Jagdeo was never endowed. The doctorates were honorary conferrals. The biggest participant at the Day of Appreciation will be “Comrade Irony.” What is there to appreciate about the twelve-year tenure of Mr. Jagdeo? He bows out in two months’ time. Lok at how his subjects view there own country.

There is a boast of stupendous growth; no one wants to stay in Guyana. There is a boast of economic growth, the planners of the Day of Appreciation sent out invitations at a time when our dilapidated schools are on display for newspaper readers to view with disgust. The planners of the Day of Appreciation sent out their invitation at a time when GPL collapsed and blackout hit the city for two consecutive days. Where I live it strikes everyday.

In addition to Comrade Irony who will be the featured guest, Sigmund Freud will be the second honoured invitee. Fate plays cruel games. The Day of Appreciation is called to celebrate failures and indeed Jagdeo’s failures are ubiquitous. Deep in their Freudian minds, the key strategists that Mr. Jagdeo has worked with for so long reminded us of what Mr. Jagdeo’s rule was like. So as they put the saliva on the envelope to dispatch the invitations, we got pictures of run down schools, a broken down GPL and a mountain of Wikeleaks cables. The cables tell a tragic and Shakespearian tale of secret corridors, dark hallways, criminal conspiracies and Mephistophelean dances where every conceivable venality was entangled in politics’ immoral and depraved debaucheries.

Maybe at the Day of Appreciation, they should play the song that best depicts the tyrannical twelve years of the God, his games, schemes and ephemeral grandeurs. If there is any song that more compellingly describes the inanities and insanities of power that have destroyed this country these past twelve years, it is the Eagles’ “Hotel California.” Here are the appropriate words;

“Mirrors on the ceilings
The pink champagne on ice
And she said
We are all prisoners here of our own device
In the master chambers
They gathered for the feast
They stabbed it with their steely knives
But they just can’t kill the beast.”

History is a priceless thing and one hopes that the independent media is there on that fateful Friday night to record the people who will enter Hotel California at the National Stadium. Decades from now as the nation seeks to right the wrongs of Mr. Jagdeo’s legacy, we will see and know who were the participants in the nation’s tragedies. And of course the Guyanese people and history will judge them harshly.

Source
FM
What is there to celebrate?
SEPTEMBER 16, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER LETTERS

Dear Editor,

As I sat in the blackout that engulfed the city last night, It dawned on me that after 12 years (the longest serving President) as the Head of State, Bharrat Jagdeo and his regime were unable to do something as basic, as keeping the lights on. So what is there to celebrate? What is the reason for the self congratulatory party?

Let us not kid ourselves, electricity is a basic necessity in the 21st century, and there is no reason or excuse for what amounts to a small city (Guyana) to be without continuous (24 hour) electrical supply. There are less than one million households in Guyana, and that is less than the average metropolitan city around the world; they get it right, why can’t we? And we have the audacity to celebrate.

This month, pensioners in Guyana will take home a paltry $7,500 while the President in a couple of weeks will start collecting from the over- taxed payers of Guyana a ransom fit for a vulgar and heartless King. President Jagdeo’s retirement package with his cars, secretaries, free light, free water, free vacation, gardener, maids, cooks, security, free health care, no tax; makes a mockery of the little man who must slave to keep him living a life of luxury. Jagdeo will live out the rest of his life on the backs of the working poor who must struggle with an unconscionable 16% VAT and 33% PAYE. I dare ask, Mr. Editor, what is there for the little man to celebrate or appreciate, when his daily income of approx $250 cannot even buy a loaf of bread.

With the staged crowd and the glitz and glamour of a Potemkin village the Champion of the Earth will humbly accept the praise and thanks of a grateful nation. The lights will shine bright at the national stadium, obliterating the darkness that has invaded the social fabric of our nation.
As he shamelessly engages in this glorification of self, several homeless men and women will be going to bed on the bleachers of the Parade Ground, while several more scattered around the city and throughout the nation will rest their heads anywhere they can, thankful for another day, barely surviving in Jagdeo’s paradise.

The laid off sugar and bauxite workers, the civil servants working for starvation wages, the police officer forced to compromise his values and criminalize himself by taking bribes to supplement his meager wages, the students that attend the ramshackle schools that are a remnant of another era. What should they be thankful for?

There will be wild boast and claims of infrastructure development on a massive scale. The rulers will pat themselves on the back and say “Thanks to our great leader we have been delivered”. The preferred mode of address will be Dr. Jagdeo, Champion of the Earth, and not to waste an opportunity to campaign for the upcoming elections, Donald Ramotor will be rolled out.

However, there will be no talk of the WikiLeaks cables; you will not hear the words money laundering mentioned once. The drug culture that has invaded our land will be brushed under the carpet. The failure to invest in the most important resource, the human resource, will get absolutely no mention. The thousands that continue to vote with their feet, abandoning Jagdeo’s paradise for anywhere else, will be ignored and the bands will play as the “rent a crowd” waits to be bussed back to their homes, thankful that they will not be fired for non- attendance or otherwise victimized for being a no-show.

If this was not so serious it would be laughable, for I remember the day that this man Bharrat Jagdeo became president. He was young and many felt he was unaffected by the old politics of the past and he would govern fairly and bring much needed change to the country. There was goodwill and we were prepared to give him a chance. He squandered it; he blew it; and 12 years later we are still a divided nation, we are still a nation plagued by poverty. We are a nation of beggars, where the super rich express themselves and flaunt their riches, while the poor just try to keep bread on the table and a roof over their heads. Yes, some with connections to this regime have lots to be thankful for, because they have never had it this good. But while this small band of tycoons and drug lords feast at the table of plenty the masses go hungry, thanks to Dr. Jagdeo.

Mr. Editor, some have opined that today should be dubbed a day of shame, but I would rather we have a day of prayer. We should pray to our God that He sends us a benevolent and just leader. We should pray that when we enter the voting booth that he gives us the wisdom and the courage to do the right thing. Finally Mr. Editor we should ask him to continue to bless this land and show us that we must learn to live as brothers and sisters, or perish together and suffer as fools.

Mark Archer

Source
FM
A most controversial president
SEPTEMBER 16, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER LETTERS

Dear Editor,

Please allow me the space within your most impressive and informational column to send out greatest and heartfelt wishes and appreciation to the most controversial President/Leader who ever graced these shores of our beautiful and romantic country, “The Land of Many Waters” Guyana. As someone who was granted the great opportunity to be born within these shores to two wonderful parents during the time of the British Rule, and who at present holds Citizenship of The United States of America, I beg your consideration to publish my letter before the official “Appreciation Day” for The President of Guyana, which is slated for Friday, September 16 2011, at the National Stadium.

Before I get into any semantics about the appreciation, I do not believe that I am so au fait with the meaning of, “The National Stadium”, but from my naivety, I would like to deduce that, judging from the name of the Stadium, it belongs to the people of Guyana and as such, I would like to request the breakdown of the rental charges, which were incurred for this private event and if there are such charges, who is/are financing these charges, please remember, we are staging an appreciation day for “THE GOOD WORKS” “THE UNQUESTIONABLE WORKS”, and “THE TRANSPARENT WORKS” of the President of Guyana.

Having started out with the question of the usage and charges for the Stadium, I think without much ado, I should get into the heart of some of the things that I think Guyanese in Guyana and also in the Diaspora should be really thankful and appreciative of our President since he assumed the Great Mantle of Leadership of this Resources Rich Country, “OH BEAUTIFUL GUYANA”

I will try my best to list our Goodly President’s remarkable and superb achievements in chronological order, but if I should have my chronology mixed up, I will ask you, Mr. Editor and your readers to excuse my ignorance of the facts of chronology, due to my long absence from this great land of ours.

ACHIEVEMENTS OF OUR GREAT PRESIDENT DURING HIS REIGN,
1. Home Affairs and National Security Minister Ronald Gajraj, being named as the Head of an Extra Judicial Killing Squad, herein after called, “THE INFAMOUS PHANTOM SQUAD” , which bore tremendous resemblance to the, TON-TON MACOUTES, killing squads of then Papa Doc Duvalier of Haiti.
2. Increased the Illiteracy Rate of our school children. I can attest to that having passed through this same educational system and arriving in the United States of America with my education of the 70″s and 80’s, finding that our educational system, was way out of reach of the American System, and now we are being told that this Government under the Supreme Reign of the President, is messing with the idea of importing teachers from that very American System, which at one time was craving for the Educational Expertise of our locally trained and educated teachers.
3. The infamous Lusignan and Bartica Massacre, which was, as expected pinned on the now dead Rondell “Fineman” Rawlins, who had to die, because capturing him, he may have revealed too much.
4. Having a Commissioner of Police and other Senior Police Officers Foreign Visas revoked and of lately, the identification of vehicles used by Senior Officers of the Guyana Police, being owned by known Drug Traffickers.
5. A University of Guyana Valedictorian being unable to find employment, because of her ethnicity, four years after topping the University.
6. Building a Stelling, which floats away immediately after being opened. A bridge across the Berbice River, which had to be closed for some sort of repairs or defect shortly after being opened, unlike the Demerara Harbour Bridge, which has a wonderful story to tell, having outlived its life, which was given to it by the then engineers.
7. Going into Buxton, grading down farmers’ land and crops, leaving the youths unemployed and uneducated and to add insult to injury, rebuilding the Tipperary Society Hall, which will serve no Economic or Educational purposes to the youths or adults of Buxton and its environs.

I can go on and on Mr Editor, naming things and events which I think the Guyanese People, should be thankful to our President for, but I am sure your readers will get really bored, because they may evolve into a book. As the President prepares to demit office, I wish him well in his future endeavors but would like to leave this little story about a Series which graced the American television for a very long time, that show was called, “LAW AND ORDER”, and some of the familiar words that were sung before the show started and on its conclusion were, HAPPY EXIT.

Aubrey Gill
Criminal Psychologist

Source
FM
Protest against Jagdeo day of appreciation
By STABROEK EDITOR | PHOTOS | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2011


(From right) Presidential Candidate Khemraj Ramjattan, Office Manager Beverly Roberts and National Coordinator Neilsen McKenzie wearing black ribbons to protest the Jagdeo Day of Appreciation.

Source
FM
Arrests made for anti-Jagdeo signs
SEPTEMBER 17, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS

Many markings on the roads in Regions Three and Four containing derogatory remarks about the President Bharrat Jagdeo were found on the day slated for his Appreciation Day at the National stadium yesterday.

Some of the writings read ‘Jagdeo is a wife abuser,’ ‘Jagdeo going to jail,’ Jagdeo is a no good,’ Jagdeo is lawless,’ Jagdeo loves drug lords,’ among other lewd and insulting remarks. Some persons were arrested for the anti-Jagdeo signs which were written.


One of the slogans on the roadway outside Thirst Park

Source
FM
The true Guyana economy remains broken
By STABROEK STAFF | LETTERS | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2011

Dear Editor,

After reading your newspaper’s lead story yesterday, ‘Jagdeo ‘appreciation’ draws cheers and jeers,’ and then the state-owned Guyana Chronicle’s, ‘President urges national pride, healing of wounds of the past,’ I have to say thanks for a balanced report. Of course I had a laugh at his call for healing the wounds of the past, because he has wounded many people with his remarks and actions, and his departure could only accelerate the healing process.

Anyway, about a year or so ago, there was great debate about whether the President will ever actually leave office, but ever since plans were announced for an appreciation day to thank the President for his 12 years at the helm of the government, much has been said for and against his presidency. With the appreciation day behind us, it finally appears he will demit office after this year’s pending elections.

Judging from the various letters and opinion pieces, the President is credited with restoring the Guyana economy, starting with strict adherence to creditors’ guidelines for writing off Guyana’s US$2B foreign debt the PPP inherited from the PNC regime in 1992, to investing in Guyana’s infrastructure and to overseeing mixed results on the economic performance front. But while some are loud in their praise of the President’s handling of the economy and rebuilding its infrastructure, what good are these if scheduled and unscheduled blackouts are still common after almost 40 years? Which other Caribbean capital has had this decades long curse?

For an economy on which 750,000 depend and the potential for greater results lies untapped, the trumpeters also mystifyingly refuse to publicly acknowledge that the informal economy remains about half the formal economy. I have long made the informal economy factor a point of contention to both rebuke and rebut those who keep singing the President’s praises on the economy, because these folks have been hoodwinked and are hoodwinking the gullible and naïve into believing the President is some sort of economic miracle worker. I repeat: If we eliminate monies from foreign loans and grants, foreign remittances and money laundered from narco-trafficking and other illicit underground activities, the Guyana economy will be standing on one leg.

Most of the fresh foreign loans and grants went into infrastructural projects, which the government appears to be receiving credit for executing, yet those projects were precisely what the foreign loans and grants were supposed to be spent on, and one reason why the PPP sought to govern. Regrettably, many of those projects lacked value for money and raised questions about kick-backs or rip-offs. Foreign remittances continue to be a huge win for the Guyana economy, and I am not talking about what the US reports annually, because America is not the only source of foreign remittances. Guyanese actually take varying quantities of undeclared foreign exchange when travelling from various nations to Guyana every year.

Money-laundering is undoubtedly the biggest game player in the local currency market. Because it is illegal, no one knows the exact amount of laundered money that flows or changes hands on a daily basis, but with the emergence of massive consumer-oriented businesses, well-furnished huge mansions, imported luxury cars, affluent social settings and banks sitting on billions of dollars with hardly any borrowers, it is one reason why international institutions conclude that the informal economy is between 40% and 60% of the formal economy. And the government is not keen on correcting this disturbing claim.

When we take those three financial sources and we add government’s onerous Value Added Tax (VAT), in a consumer-based economy that thrives on imported goods, we can see a Guyana economy awash in a sea of money, and that’s how the picture gets presented of a stable economy under the astute leadership of the President. That is the tricky part of Guyana’s economics I call ‘trickonomics,’ because it tricks people into thinking economy stability is based on sound economic practices. Not in Guyana’s case!

Now, even if we want to credit the President with a stable economy, how do we reconcile this claim with the fact that in 2011 Guyana can’t provide enough jobs for school leavers (secondary or tertiary) or at least good paying jobs that would allow those employed to remain and embark on a fruitful life in Guyana?

Comparably speaking, Britain is 219,000 square kilometres and has a population of 59.6 million. Guyana is 216,000 square kilometres and has a population of 750,000. The huge population disparity here is what has me wondering what exactly does Guyana need, given its untapped potential to do better economically, to make a marked difference. And if we keep losing our best brains to other nations, how can we expect to compete or match up with more developed economies?

I wish to submit to ‘all the President’s horses and all President’s men,’ that the true Guyana economy remains broken, and no matter how hard they try to put together the broken pieces with ‘their facts and figures’ and smooth over the surface with propaganda, they will continue to fool themselves as they fail to impact the people of Guyana. Editor, one does not have to be a college educated economist to know when an economy is revving up for take-off, for we all know that whenever Guyanese stop running away, or when Guyanese start returning home in droves and foreigners start showing up in droves on our shores (the way we have been doing for decades), that’s when the Guyana economy is actually stable and ready for take-off.

So, if I am ever going to join others in showing my appreciation to the President, it will not be for his (mis)handling of the economy – he sure has failed on other fronts like crime-fighting, administration of justice, control of corruption in and out of government, etc – but it will be for finally recognizing that he will be overstaying his time in office if he decides to stay on beyond 2011.

Meanwhile, voters have to wise up to the reality that, if elected, Mr Donald Ramotar will govern based on his party’s known group-think mentality that produced this President and the fake economic performance that benefits the political cabal and not the poor citizenry. It’s time Guyanese begin to appreciate themselves by voting for a break from the PPP-PNC stranglehold. Give real change a chance.

Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin

Source
FM
We should show our disgust quietly in our numbers at the President’s Appreciation Day
By STABROEK STAFF | LETTERS | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

Dear Editor,

I reiterate the AFC’s call to citizens to wear something black or put something black on their home or vehicle to show displeasure with the President’s Appreciation Day today.

I remind the traditional supporters of the PPP, especially those who identify with Komal Chand, Navin Chandarpal, Indra Chandarpal, Moses Nagamootoo, Ralph Ramkarran and others, of Dr Jagan’s vehement opposition to the personality cult and abuse of state resources under the PNC.

Just the other day, our President admonished our youth to learn of Guyana’s past, especially that under the PNC. However, today the PPP will engage in exactly what it just condemned! But, I do not recall the PNC using paratroopers or a police gymkhana, courtesy of the state, to enhance their celebrations. These probably cost as much as the hosting of Mass Games. And, though Mass Games pandered to the personality cult, it had positives such as physical exercise, teambuilding, showcasing the skills of our young people and highlighting our nation’s beauty. Nothing positive about the President’s Appreciation Day comes to mind.

Now that our President has exhorted us to study the PNC, especially under Forbes Burnham, this hypocrisy would not be lost on our young people. Nor would the fact that the PPP chooses to spend billions of dollars importing computers, knowing fully well these can be assembled by our young people right here in Guyana, thereby creating hundreds of jobs for them. Not lost on our young people either, is that the President’s pension is some 3 million dollars a month, while their beloved grandparents are given an old-age pension of a pitiable $7,500 a month or $250 a day.

Shameful too is that our woefully underpaid disciplined services will be paraded in front of the President and his adoring fans, not unlike in a dog and pony show. These are the same people the President expects to put their lives on the line protecting the state on meagre salaries of $45,000, while he pays a Presidential Advisor almost $900,000 a month, some 20 times more. These are the same people too, that the Home Affairs Minister admonishes to live within their means, while his salary (not counting allowances and other perks) is 10 times as much.

With our police underpaid and little forensic capability, is there any wonder there is so much unsolved crime? The three months of August, September and October mark two years since the disappearance of 10-year-old Ricky Jainarine, one year since the killing of 20-year-old Sheema Mangar, and three years since the murder of 26-year-old Alicia Foster respectively, all unsolved. How can this be a time for the President to be celebrated?

To everyone attending please whisper a prayer for Guyana. Too many things need to be rectified and redeemed. Like being induced or coerced to attend lest jobs or benefits are taken away. Whatever guilty consciences may be borne will be eased by such a prayer. Even Bishop Edghill will endorse this. He may wish to even do the prayer.

And so, let us show our disgust quietly in our numbers, and wear something black or put something black on our home or vehicle. And come Election Day, just how the PPP’s policy of “no child left behind” is leaving our young people behind, so must we leave the PPP behind.

Yours faithfully,
Gerhard Ramsaroop

Stabroek News

Kaieteur News
FM
The ‘Appreciation Day’ risks developing a cult of personality
By STABROEK STAFF | LETTERS | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2011

Dear Editor,

The President’s Appreciation Day is now over, but I suppose the discussions will continue, if not increase about whether or not such an event is appropriate. Supporters of the PPP/C and moreso, supporters of President Bharrat Jagdeo will undoubtedly feel justified in honouring their leader. From their perspective, Mr Jagdeo has transformed this country and charted its course to economic progress and viability. This, in fact, was one sentiment echoed at the televised event, and generally, one for which some Guyanese would offer a measure of recognition to the President. Those opposed to the PPP/C and the President, equally will deem the ceremony inappropriate, considering unsolved crime and questionable socio-political circumstances increasingly evident in Guyana.

Personally, such an event, especially since it is likely to become institutionalized, runs the risk of developing a cult of personality. In layman’s terms, when respect for a public figure plunges to the depths of idolatry, then there exists a cult of personality. History is replete with examples of monarchs occupying the throne by divine right; of Kim Il Sung and his son, Kim Jong Il being venerated by the citizens of North Korea as the sources of all blessings; and most recently of Muammar Gaddafi who envisioned himself as the protector of Arab nationalism.

Maybe the organizers of the President’s Appreciation Day intended anything but deification of President Jagdeo, yet the method of organizing this event along with some of the sentiments expressed, ought to forewarn us about the possibility of creating personality cults. It is my understanding that attendees of the event, were in some cases, ferried free of cost to Demerara to witness the occasion. Then replicas of the national flag were distributed to be waved by the spectators; the flattering speeches containing such endearments as “nothing short of stellar” and “Hail the Chief”; there was the cabinet escort to the centre of the field; the fanfare by the Guyana Police Force band; the display of the President’s portrait on a big screen captioned ‘The Architect of Modern Guyana’; and finally the fireworks. External to the stadium, several television channels were broadcasting the event uninterrupted.

Whether the organizers are aware of it or not, they were invoking certain traditions which border on idealization. I can think of any number of Guyanese who already see the parallel between the flag-waving spectators at this event and those acclaiming their sporting heroes after a gruelling contest. Having the President deliver his remarks from the centre of the field suggests the major actor in the ‘orchestra’ of a Greek theatre. In a cosmological sense, it is tempting to see such positioning as suggestive of the prominence of certain heavenly bodies. This is not so far-fetched when one of the abovementioned plaudits is considered. Also, in history, poets and artists were expected to produce pieces which extolled the leader, a tradition which was evident yesterday. To address the President as “The Architect of Modern Guyana” will certainly amuse some historians and politicians, even within the PPP/C itself, since other famous names in our country’s history could aptly fit such a title. Nonetheless, the operative word “architect” glorifies the President as the designer and creator of contemporary Guyana – a rather vainglorious characterization.

There are mild personality-cultist underpinnings to what occurred yesterday, and as well intentioned as the ceremony may have been, it places this country on a course that requires discernment. Praise and commendations are quite normal and necessary, but there is always a looming threat of over-indulgence and over-compensation, both of which can spawn the deification of leaders, and eventually the oppression of citizens. Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan reformed schools by making his book a core text in all classrooms; Leonid Brezhnev could not contain his desire for self-adulation, so he awarded himself many medals and honours; while Stalin labelled himself “the greatest leader” and “sublime strategist of all times and nations.” These are the extreme outcomes of the cult of personality, but which nevertheless befall societies oblivious to the dangers of excessive adoration.

On February 25, 1956 at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the USSR, Nikita Krushchev denounced the cult of Stalin by pointing out that it “…brought about rude violation of party democracy… and varnishings of reality.” In closing, he declared, “So as not to repeat errors of the past, the central committee has declared itself resolutely against the cult of the individual.” Hence, based on its philosophical origins, the PPP/C itself should be ideologically opposed to the cult personality.

Even though an occasion of this kind seems unique for presidents, it is understandable that it is considered that the outgoing President deserves a farewell. The event was by no means ostentatious idolatry and the President himself did not participate in self-glorification. However, the exercise by itself warrants careful examination, for once the motives, intentional or not, point in the direction of the cult of personality, then we should beware.

Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)

Source
FM
If you have a party you must be able to pay for it
By STABROEK STAFF | LETTERS | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2011

Dear Editor,

The party is over and all of the guests have been bused or trucked back home and we pray that they got there safely. However there are a few house-keeping matters that we must address before we put this event (President Jagdeo’s Day of Appreciation) behind us. This was not a state event. The Day of Appreciation for Bharrat Jagdeo was a private event ostensibly hosted by labour unions, some clergy and other friends and well-wishers of the President. There is nothing illegal in holding such an event, people do it all the time; anyone who has the disposable income can have a private party.

On Friday the venue for this private bash was the National Stadium and the entertainment was quite lavish and the administration and logistics extremely complex. There was a massive police presence and the many arms and resources of the state were visible. All these things are necessary for holding such an event, especially if the planners want it to be a success. What I want to see, Editor, is the bill for this event. Starting with the National Stadium, as a citizen, I have a right to know how much was paid for the rental of the facility. The security that was provided by the Guyana Police Force, whose ranks had to be deployed from their daily routine; who is going to be picking up the tab for this and what is the dollar amount?

As I watched the paratrooping display by airborne elements of the Guyana Defence Force it became evident that this party was going to have a hell of a price tag. The fuel for the airplane, the rental for the said plane including the pay for the pilot, the jumpers – what was the cost for those? If this were a state event I could understand elements of the armed forces taking part, but this was a private party, and as such a cost has to be attached to the uses of the arms and resources of the state.

I look forward to seeing what we will find out about the cost of this event and if the treasury was properly recompensed for the services and resources used. I personally witnessed a long convoy of GuySuCo trucks and tractors and trailers, transporting people to the event. I am hoping that the cash-strapped sugar corporation will get some money for the use of its vehicles. Everyone likes a good party, but like my grandmother used to say, when it is over “It’s time to pay the piper.” I look forward to the accounting on this event, and I hope that the already over-taxed workers of Guyana will not be stuck with any part of this bill. If you keep a party you must be able to pay for it.

Yours faithfully,
Mark Archer

Source
FM
Could not the money spent on the Appreciation have been better used supporting those in orphanages and old people’s homes for a year?
By STABROEK STAFF | LETTERS | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

Dear Editor,

So we have had it, the staged show to chaperone the champion of poverty on his way out, while at the same time making it clear that his successor will ensure that he remains very much in command if (and this is a big if), the Guyanese people make that historical mistake of ever voting for the PPP again.

These two Comrades demanded and got all hail and all the glory to Guyana’s head of state, so now what, days after? The people still live in a house with a kitchen which does not have enough food inside. Could these monies not have been spent on feeding those in orphanages and old people’s homes for a year? State resources were spent by the GDF, police and T&HD, yet we were told that the state did not fund this event. This is Burnhamism all over again where the leader is more important than the country.

This pappy show was extraordinary for a party that likes to marginalise, abuse and harass independent schools of thoughts and the independent media. But this show had greater significance than just to show off Jagdeo and Ramotar North Korean style. It was to confirm the succession strategy that was imposed on the party and provide a synopsis of what to expect if the PPP wins again. In a country that has villages like Topo in Albion or Plastic City or Sophia, wouldn’t all these taxpayer millions be better spent if they had bought grass cutters and distributed them to thousands of Guyanese in every village and street of Guyana and ask them to clean up Guyana for a stipend?

This would have provided many with an income and taught them to fish and live a life of dignity. But no, they ensure that the army of the unemployed grows. Thanks to the leaders, the PPP brand is now clearly imprinted in people’s minds as the jump and wine party, the rum and dance party. Why debate policy? We can jump and wine instead. No need to go to school and work any more.

As we are at it idolising the most omniscient leader, why don’t we do even one better? Let us change the name of the stadium and call it the Bharrat Jagdeo Stadium – and don’t forget the Bharrat Jagdeo Bridge across the Berbice River. And, of course, to drive Hammie Green wild, let us change the name of Georgetown and call it Jagdeotown and change the name of Sparendaam and call it Jagdeoville. Stop it, why all these changes? Let‘s make the mother of all name changes and just call Guyana Jagdeodesh.

Why don’t we build a Bharrat Jagdeo Square and make everything about that square an opportunity to pay homage to the great leader, with digital screens broadcasting his words of wisdom on how not to build a hydropower station and how to fool the Norwegians. Why don’t we display giant size pictures of him and have girls and boys bring flowers every day and plant gardens with rare flowers named after him. And let us not forget the speakers blaring out songs of adoration with verses like, “Long live the great leader, the most glorious of all.”

Then we will get the ever compliant Pro-Chancellor to write books and poems and more songs of praise of the exploits of the great leader. Let us extol his greatest asset – how to promise everything and deliver nothing and still have the NCN and Chronicle glorify him every day with taxpayers‘ money.

Thank the lord for granting us faith and the firm belief that right will overcome might. Yes, change is coming to Guyana.

Yours faithfully,
Sasenarine Singh

Source
FM
There was nothing Christian-like here
SEPTEMBER 21, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER LETTERS

Dear Editor,

Bishop Juan Edghill has told Guyanese that he is fully in support of President Jagdeo’s party to thank Mr. Jagdeo, himself, because he is being guided by biblical principles. According to Edghill, he is acting on behalf or the Christian Community in Guyana, in being a part of the organizing committee of this Jagdeo fete.

Let me make it categorically clear, that Mr. Edghill’s remarks cannot be taken seriously but at the same time cannot be treated lightly, as his actions would be sending the wrong signals about the entire Christian community in Guyana.

Firstly, Edghill is saying to Guyana and the world that Christians in Guyana would celebrate an immoral and corrupt leader; a leader who has presided over a vicious death squad that have slain more than 400 of the nation’s youth. Edghill is saying that Christians will celebrate a leader who has attempted to denigrate the sanctity of marriage by treating it with unquestionable disdain. A president who lied to a nation for almost nine years about him being legally married, when in fact he was not, is a deed no Christian can celebrate. What the president had done was to trivialize this biblically sanctioned union. Bishop Edghill should be ashamed to be associated with this sort of leader, who has not only attempted to denigrated marriage but is accused by his spouse of serious mental, physical and spiritual abuse.

No Christian can celebrate such moral, mental and spiritual assault and injustice perpetuated by one human being against another. Quoting scriptures to defend your action, Mr. Edghill, is one of the regular ‘sweep overs’ the usual crooks will try, so I want to tell you that it will not work because people are not that naive.

Further, assuming that Jagdeo had indeed done all the right things to propel Guyana forward, does Mr. Edghill believe that Guyanese should allow the President to throw a party to thank himself, with taxpayers’ money? Certainly not, the job of the President is to lead the nation in a solid economic direction, provide for the safety and security of the nation among other national prerequisites and goals. None of these Mr. Jagdeo can boast of. One only has to take a look at what is going on.

Only a self-centered, self-serving, egotistically driven being will indulge in the kind of vulgarity planned by Jagdeo, Edghill, and company.
At a time when children cannot find a meal before they go to school, when schools are in total disrepair, when people’s lives are under threat, when violence and criminal parade the land, when drug cartels occupy every corner in the cities, when Guyanese struggle to cope with the VAT burden, when mothers are still grieving their slain and kidnapped sons, the President and his friends are throwing a ‘bashment’ to celebrate the president’s 11 years presiding over corruption.

Will the Christians, Bishop Edgill, ignore the plight of the unfortunate and the sufferings of the people to throw a party for the president, who has in more than one way contributed to the plight of these people? I think not Bishop. This kind of stance would more aptly describe those akin to a crony type of establishment. I therefore, believe that your action speaks more to cronyism rather than Christianity.

And let me remind you, Bishop, that we all can find a scripture in the Bible to twist to suit our narrow means and objectives but the God Lord will have the final say. While I cannot speak for all Christians I can speak for myself and family, to say that we are Christians who were totally against the ‘Jagdeo fete’ and Bishop Juan Edghill cannot speak for us on this matter.

Lurlene Nestor

Source
FM
Disappointed by Sir Shridath’s tribute
By STABROEK STAFF | LETTERS | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Dear Editor,

On reading the Guyana Chronicle’s news story (September 20) featuring Sir Shridath Surendranath ‘Sonny’ Ramphal’s tribute to President Bharrat Jagdeo at the President’s appreciation ceremony last Friday, I couldn’t help asking myself how did I miss it in both Stabroek News and Kaieteur News. I then searched the internet to see if either newspaper carried a related story and came up empty.

That oddity aside, I really couldn’t help feeling deeply insulted and disappointed on reading Sir Shridath’s tribute that painted a one-sided bright picture of a President he felt did much to benefit Guyana and the regional community, but completely ignored the rather disturbingly dark side of the Jagdeo presidency. This is so reminiscent of Sir Shridath’s deafening silence, as he sat in the opulent confines of his London-based office at the Common-wealth Secretariat, while the late Forbes Burnham e-mbarked on his authoritarian rule, characterized by the rigging of elections to keep himself in power, followed by shocking human rights violations and a spiralling decline in our socioeconomic fortunes.

Sir Shridath never once used his good offices as Commonwealth Secretary-General to highlight the wrongs of the Burnham regime and the plight of his Guyanese brothers and sisters, whom he left behind to struggle for their lives and their livelihoods. Today, true to form, he showed absolutely no sign of remorse or sense of regret as he completely ignored the current President’s refusal to hold a commission of enquiry into the deaths of over 200 Guyanese at the hands of a drug kingpin or even his own government’s association with said drug kingpin after all the damaging testimonies from eyewitnesses and turncoat informants.

Does Sir Shridath know that the Jagdeo presidency also surpassed the Burnham presidency in the area of government corruption? Does Sir Shridath know why the World Bank is refusing to release Norway’s US$70M it is holding in its GRIF account? Does he know that Guyana has probaly achieved narco-state status despite boasts of a stable economy? And does he know that despite the President’s Champion of the Earth award, Georgetown went from Garden City to Garbage City, and all because the government refused to hold local government elections since 1994?

I did some brief research on Sir Shridath and discovered that he is being viewed internationally as an architect of regional integration in the Caribbean, and that he helped to increase the role of Guyana in world affairs. I actually remember Burnham’s impressively eloquent speeches at Commonwealth and Non-Aligned summits, among others, and this may well have been with great help from Sir Shridath’s position as Commonwealth Secretary-General. But while they did their thing up there, the Guyanese people at the bottom were not feeling it. There was such a huge disconnect. Then I had mixed feelings when I learned that Sir Shridath, who attended private schools founded by his father in Georgetown, once wrote that his father had a profound influence on his life, and that his father’s “passionate belief in the basic goodness within all men” made a deep impression on him (Answers.com).

I have no doubt that despite their abundance of deliberate mistakes that hurt many Guyanese, both Burnham and Jagdeo possessed a basic goodness, but I also have no doubt that there comes a point in one’s life when one loses the right to claim possession of such basic goodness, and that point comes after repeated public rebukes and exposures and there is no concomitant public remorse or repentance (change of direction). It is called the point of no return, and it dooms the reputations of the persons in question in the history books.

Sir Shridath does not have to share my opinion, but I am convinced beyond doubt that Mr Jagdeo is Guyana’s worst president, followed closely by Burnham. And in case Sir Shridath has any question about my belief, I want to remind him that when he retired in 1990, after fifteen years as Commonwealth SG, he did not stay in London or return home to his beautiful native land, Guyana. He chose to take up residence in the tiny jewel in the Caribbean waters, Barbados. Why Barbados and not Guyana?

That’s the same country where another Jagdeo ‘praise and worship‘ leader, Dr Rickey Singh also calls home, refusing to return to beautiful Guyana after the ignoble PNC was voted out of office in 1992 and the beloved PPP finally got to run things in Guyana. In fact, that’s the same country where over 30,000 Guyanese chose to live after concluding life was unbearable under the PPP regime and President Jagdeo. What’s more shocking, many of those 30,000 are sugar workers or people from the traditional PPP support base.

But Editor, it is Sir Shridath’s continued aloofness and failure to become a voice for ordinary Guyanese that I find disgusting and disappointing. The same source of my research did note that “some analysts have criticized Ramphal’s focus on South Africa and, in the late 1970s, white minority rule in Rhodesia, at the time when the majority of Commonwealth nations were either under one-party states or military dictatorships. For example, Ramphal declined to make public comment in 1983 when Robert Mugabe began a programme of genocide in south-west Zimbabwe.”

Sir Shridath may have come from among us, but he is definitely not one of us. He belongs to a class of international intellectuals who are disconnected from the little people that the same intellectual class which loves to preach and pretend they care. No wonder he praises President Jagdeo. Is there room in Barbados for the President? After his government’s disastrous handling of GuySuCo, I am not sure the Barbados sugar industry will be a welcome fit for him, so he and Sir Shridath and Dr Singh can sit on a beach and exchange notes.

Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin

Editor’s note
Sir Shridath’s tribute was not delivered at the President’s Appreciation ceremony on Friday, it was published in the ‘Apreciation Magazine’, which appeared in the Guyana Times on Friday September 16, 2011 and subsequently reprinted in the Guyana Chronicle on Tuesday September 20, 2011

Source
FM

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×