Farewell, Mr President!
Written by Keith Burrowes
Sunday, 04 December 2011 05:52
Source - Guyana Chronicle
Keith Burrowes
Today, for the first time in 12 years, Bharrat Jagdeo will not be President of Guyana. I would like to congratulate Donald Ramotar on his ascension to the highest office in Guyana.
While I value the maintenance of democracy and the Constitution’s checks on the perpetuation of power, namely the term limits that he himself signed into law, I nevertheless see the departure of the man that was Bharrat Jagdeo from the Office of the President of Guyana as a loss.
Whatever consolation we can give ourselves about his youth and his talent and the contribution he may have left to give Guyana, the fact is that the now former President of Guyana is – unless there is revolutionary constitutional change – an entity of the past. For me this has a great deal of personal significance, since I have spent the vast majority of my working life engaging the President in some professional capacity or the other.
“When the acrimony and the divisiveness would have faded into the past as we go about our daily lives,the legacy of Bharrat Jagdeo will be the place that is visible all around us, the robust economy and rate of growth that are even now forming the foundation of the Guyana that our children will inherit, a place that a quarter of a century ago many of us believed would have been impossible to achieve.”
From our first not-too-pleasant run in when he was Junior Minister in the Ministry of Finance, to our reconciliation shortly thereafter – initiated by him – he has been someone who has earned my respect not just as President, but as a man who cared deeply for his people. His flaws have been magnified and put under a harsh spotlight, particularly in the last few years. What has gone unnoticed, unheralded is the vision, work ethic and sheer determination of will that has changed Guyana’s destiny and set us on an upward path today.
From his pragmatic and strong leadership in CARICOM, particularly on the EPA issue, to his Low Carbon Development Strategy, to his One Laptop Per Family initiative, he has shown that one can rise from the humblest of circumstances to impact upon not simply your country but the world.
No great leader in history is perfect, and few are given credit in the immediacy of the aftermath of their rule. What essentially matters is their legacy as tested and affirmed by the passage of time.
When the acrimony and the divisiveness would have faded into the past as we go about our lives, the legacy of Bharrat Jagdeo will be the place that is visible all around us, the robust economy and rate of growth that are even now forming the foundation of the Guyana that our children will inherit, a Guyana that a quarter of a century ago many of us believed would have been impossible to achieve.
His legacy will also be the inordinately large international image of Guyana in a world where countries our size and relative lack of global power never warrant so much as a headline unless they are slaughtering their own citizens by the tens of thousands, or some natural disaster is doing it for them. Thirty years ago, Guyana’s jungles became known as the scene for one of the greatest tragedies of the modern era – the mass murder/suicide of the followers of Jim Jones at Jonestown. That stain stayed with us for almost three decades, and became such an effective identifier for the country that one simply had to mention “Jonestown” in order to distinguish Guyana from Ghana to some puzzled person querying the location and indeed name of this country.
Today, directly because of the vision of Bharrat Jagdeo as President, our forests represent not a mausoleum of transnational tragedy but a symbol of international hope. Whenever we reach the stage in which the world renews itself as a consequence of human action towards the mitigation of climate change, Guyana will be known in essence as one of the places of the genesis of the new world, and it will have been Guyana under the leadership of Bharrat Jagdeo.
That said, at 48 years old he has the opportunity for his personal life’s work to continue, to transcend both the good and the bad associated with his presidency. Jimmy Carter remains an excellent example of a head of state who created a purpose that rose above what ought to have been the zenith of his life’s work, his four-year presidency of the United States of America. Carter left office more than a decade older than Jagdeo is now, yet he went on to play a major role in the enhancement and maintenance of democracy around the world. Indeed, his Carter Centre was crucial in creating the conditions that ultimately led to Jagdeo’s presidency.
Even as President Ramotar seeks to create his own legacy by furthering the gains made by his predecessors, he has to be realistically aware that the chief architect of Guyana’s modern economy is a readily available and invaluable resource; how he makes optimal use of that resource even as he carves his own distinct presidential agenda remains to be seen.
Thank you Mr President for your confidence and trust in me over the years.
Last Updated ( Sunday, 04 December 2011 06:05 )
Written by Keith Burrowes
Sunday, 04 December 2011 05:52
Source - Guyana Chronicle
Keith BurrowesToday, for the first time in 12 years, Bharrat Jagdeo will not be President of Guyana. I would like to congratulate Donald Ramotar on his ascension to the highest office in Guyana.
While I value the maintenance of democracy and the Constitution’s checks on the perpetuation of power, namely the term limits that he himself signed into law, I nevertheless see the departure of the man that was Bharrat Jagdeo from the Office of the President of Guyana as a loss.
Whatever consolation we can give ourselves about his youth and his talent and the contribution he may have left to give Guyana, the fact is that the now former President of Guyana is – unless there is revolutionary constitutional change – an entity of the past. For me this has a great deal of personal significance, since I have spent the vast majority of my working life engaging the President in some professional capacity or the other.
“When the acrimony and the divisiveness would have faded into the past as we go about our daily lives,the legacy of Bharrat Jagdeo will be the place that is visible all around us, the robust economy and rate of growth that are even now forming the foundation of the Guyana that our children will inherit, a place that a quarter of a century ago many of us believed would have been impossible to achieve.”
From our first not-too-pleasant run in when he was Junior Minister in the Ministry of Finance, to our reconciliation shortly thereafter – initiated by him – he has been someone who has earned my respect not just as President, but as a man who cared deeply for his people. His flaws have been magnified and put under a harsh spotlight, particularly in the last few years. What has gone unnoticed, unheralded is the vision, work ethic and sheer determination of will that has changed Guyana’s destiny and set us on an upward path today.
From his pragmatic and strong leadership in CARICOM, particularly on the EPA issue, to his Low Carbon Development Strategy, to his One Laptop Per Family initiative, he has shown that one can rise from the humblest of circumstances to impact upon not simply your country but the world.
No great leader in history is perfect, and few are given credit in the immediacy of the aftermath of their rule. What essentially matters is their legacy as tested and affirmed by the passage of time.
When the acrimony and the divisiveness would have faded into the past as we go about our lives, the legacy of Bharrat Jagdeo will be the place that is visible all around us, the robust economy and rate of growth that are even now forming the foundation of the Guyana that our children will inherit, a Guyana that a quarter of a century ago many of us believed would have been impossible to achieve.
His legacy will also be the inordinately large international image of Guyana in a world where countries our size and relative lack of global power never warrant so much as a headline unless they are slaughtering their own citizens by the tens of thousands, or some natural disaster is doing it for them. Thirty years ago, Guyana’s jungles became known as the scene for one of the greatest tragedies of the modern era – the mass murder/suicide of the followers of Jim Jones at Jonestown. That stain stayed with us for almost three decades, and became such an effective identifier for the country that one simply had to mention “Jonestown” in order to distinguish Guyana from Ghana to some puzzled person querying the location and indeed name of this country.
Today, directly because of the vision of Bharrat Jagdeo as President, our forests represent not a mausoleum of transnational tragedy but a symbol of international hope. Whenever we reach the stage in which the world renews itself as a consequence of human action towards the mitigation of climate change, Guyana will be known in essence as one of the places of the genesis of the new world, and it will have been Guyana under the leadership of Bharrat Jagdeo.
That said, at 48 years old he has the opportunity for his personal life’s work to continue, to transcend both the good and the bad associated with his presidency. Jimmy Carter remains an excellent example of a head of state who created a purpose that rose above what ought to have been the zenith of his life’s work, his four-year presidency of the United States of America. Carter left office more than a decade older than Jagdeo is now, yet he went on to play a major role in the enhancement and maintenance of democracy around the world. Indeed, his Carter Centre was crucial in creating the conditions that ultimately led to Jagdeo’s presidency.
Even as President Ramotar seeks to create his own legacy by furthering the gains made by his predecessors, he has to be realistically aware that the chief architect of Guyana’s modern economy is a readily available and invaluable resource; how he makes optimal use of that resource even as he carves his own distinct presidential agenda remains to be seen.
Thank you Mr President for your confidence and trust in me over the years.
Last Updated ( Sunday, 04 December 2011 06:05 )
