Appreciation Night or Night of Shame?
SEPTEMBER 10, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER AFC COLUMN, FEATURES/COLUMNISTS

The Alliance For Change is alarmed, flabbergasted and horrified at the revelation that there is in train a so-called appreciation night for outgoing President Bharrat Jagdeo. What the AFC finds highly opprobrious is the grandiose level and extent to which this event is being planned. We here register forthwith our objection to the use of any State resource in the execution of this event.

We believe that there is enough hardship prevalent in the Guyanese society (which the PPP seem to have no consciousness of) to deem such use of the State’s resources as wastage. We foresee that this event will be used as an opportunity by the PPP to electioneer and campaign. Thus, the State’s resources and assets should be protected from further PPP plunder.

In the analysis of the impact of any President, there will always be positives and negatives. The presidency of Bharrat Jagdeo is no exception. However, the AFC submits the view that Jagdeo’s tenure is fraught and overwhelmed by too many negatives. In July of 2008, Dr. Winston Mc Gowan his final Walter Rodney Lecture delivered a paper entitled ‘Modern Guyana: A historical interpretation: The PPP years, 1992 to the present.’

The negatives associated with the PPP’s term which he identified were as follows: the continued problem of poverty (it was pointed out that economic growth had not always translated into economic development); a growth in major social ills, namely drug trafficking, gun running and the use of guns in violent crimes; HIV/AIDS; corruption in public life; the continuous devaluation of the currency; a substandard education system; and the continued existence of racial and political polarization with a political culture that divided the nation into ethnic enclaves.

Adverting to the salutary features of the Bharrat Jagdeo stewardship, Dr McGowan pinpointed the moves to end the GT&T monopoly; Guyana’s status as an early signatory of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy; and the favourable result of Guyana’s legal pursuit in determining the maritime boundary with Suriname.

Nevertheless the “very disturbing” features of the Jagdeo period of administration which the professor highlighted encompassed crime and the absence of public safety; the rise of phantom squads and extra-judicial killings; the emergence of child criminals; the progressive decline of the University of Guyana because of a failure to inject the money needed to recruit and maintain highly qualified staff, an adequate library and laboratories.

From 2008 to the present, this menu of very disturbing features has seen an exponential and depraved consolidation and expansion. Firstly, the failure of the Jagdeo presidency is undergirded by his inability to transform the Guyanese economy from that of a vulnerable commodity producer to one that is driven by the manufacturing imperative. Economist Dani Rodrik reminded us recently that “… without a vibrant manufacturing sector, societies tend to divide between the rich and the poor – those who have access to steady, well paying jobs, and those whose jobs are less secure and lives more precarious. Manufacturing may ultimately be central to the vigour of a nation’s democracy”.

A central related issue has to be the obdurate refusal to review the unconscionable 16% VAT. Despite a torrent of letters from consumer groups, trade unions, political parties and other concerned Guyanese, the Jagdeo regime has remained insulated from these cries for relief. Essequibo rice farmers who produce 1 million bags of paddy per crop recently told the AFC that they are oppressed by the VAT attached to their input cost. In fact, an open letter to the President signed by Nicola Marcus, Joycelyn Bacchus, and Halima Khan for Red Thread and published in the Stabroek News on January 15, 2007 pleaded “Mr. President we say it again. For all of us who are unwaged housewives and low waged workers, men and women out of jobs and the pensioners, the rise in prices since VAT was introduced is a tragedy… This is not about party politics. This is not about race. It is about the survival of all of us, our children and our families. For the sake of our families, these VAT prices must go!”

We rather suspect that now that he has deemed them “loonies” for standing up for Kevin Simon, they won’t be hearing from him anytime soon. A second aspect in this process of consolidation and expansion of the Jagdeo misrule is the sustained deterioration of the disciplined forces, principally the Guyana Police Force. The credibility of the GPF has to be probably at its lowest ebb in our nation’s history. Thus, the Jagdeo regime has endangered the Guyanese people in a way that no other president has done.

Donald Ramotar’s recent comments in the press that the WikiLeaks revelations are not earth shattering reminds one of an ostrich burying its head in the sand. We remind the Guyanese people what a former American Ambassador cabled to the US Secretary of State “The level of narco-trafficking influence on the political, judicial and economic systems in Guyana creates ripe conditions for the emergence of a narco-state.”

The failure of the Jagdeo presidency to realize the holding of Local Government Elections with the corollary empowerment of NDCs and municipalities, has to be seen as a feature of the PPP’s obsession with wrestling and hoarding control. In effect, this failure represents the central causation of why our society is laden with a multiplicity of mundane grievances which really ought to be dealt with at a local level.

Jagdeo’s presidential decorum as holder of the office of the President is another component of his approach that has brought great disrepute to that office. Could one imagine Cheddi Jagan as President telling sugar workers that “if you cuss me out, I will cuss you back,” or could one imagine President Hoyte upbraiding a Yesu Persuad at a public forum telling him that he is ignorant and that Winston Brassington will organize a tax symposium to educate him on Guyana’s tax laws. We think not!

However, Jagdeo’s legacy will forever be tarnished by the unconscionable retirement rewards to the tune of $3,000,000 per month for life. This goes against the grain of everything Dr. Jagan and the other founding fathers of the PPP stood and worked for. The Guyanese people every time they learn of this, gasp in horror and astonishment. It is a perfect representation of that Orwellian depiction of the corruption and depravity that can affect politicians.

In our column of April 24, 2011, entitled Curbing Presidential Immunities and Excesses, we said “such immunities do not promote and nurture responsibility and statesmanship in the holder of that office, but rather inebriate such holder with a notion of unlimited power to be disposed at his whim and fancy.”

In summation, we reiterate the central thesis of this column, in analyzing the impact of any President, there will always be positives and negatives – the Jagdeo regime being no exception. However, this outgoing President’s tenure is riddled with too many disturbing features to warrant any appreciation night. We suggest, rather, a day of reflection, recollection, remorse and repentance.

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