Jagdeo’s abysmal, lawless, corrupt and self-serving record
Dear Editor,
Dishonesty and shamelessness are traits of some politicians and in the instance of Bharrat Jagdeo these seem to be his only attributes. Addressing a gathering in Linden on Sunday 12th April with his usual crassness he laid out what he perceived to be the ills of another government and made promises in his bid for the PPP to win the elections, but what he failed to give the audience was his record.
As such, he needs to be reminded that it was under his leadership that Region 10 and its people have been targeted for marginalisation, discrimination, hounded and mistreated in attempt to bring the people of the community to their knees. These deliberate and sustained policies of his I call economic genocide. And his record of treatment towards Linden/Region 10 holds true.
It was under his administration all bauxite workers in Linden and Kwakwani were sent home in breach of the collective labour agreement between the company and the recognised union. The $2.5B bauxite industry pension plan, the largest single pool of money that was owned primarily by Africans, was broken up by him. As a result no bauxite worker who came through from the 1960s to now can receive a pension after giving of their labour in the prime of their life to build Guyana.
This nation is reminded that it was Jagdeo who offered the residents of Kwakwani an all-weather road, house lot and farm land to support his initiative to give the bauxite company to foreigners. To date the residents are still awaiting the farm land, house lot and all-weather road. On his first visit to Region 10 in his capacity as president he told the community his government will make Kwakwani, Linden and Ituni the industrial corridor in the country. To date not one thing has been done to realise this. Instead, Region 10 became his playground to plunder the nation’s resources and disperse them among his clique, foreign and local.
Under Jagdeo’s leadership, the power generation plant in Linden was given away to foreigners, and as I write, the steam power plant, an economically efficient plant, no longer exists. It was his government that removed the turbine from the steam power plant in Linden and took it to Versailles. Yet he has the temerity to talk about how much billions the government has injected into Linden electricity, after his government carried out a deliberate and sustained policy to degut the community’s electricity infrastructure!
It was during the Jagdeo government the workers’ bid to purchase BERMINE was rejected. In fact, the workers were not even accorded an acknowledgement by the Privatization Unit, headed by Winston Brassington. The former bauxite plant at Everton was given to one of Jagdeo’s friends, after allowing the calciner to rot because his government refused the purchase offer of an African-Guyanese led group.
During a Jagdeo-led administration the State’s coffers became a personal bank where dissenters were punished and friends could have easy and ready access. He handled the financial and other affairs of state as though Guyana was his plantation. Under his leadership then Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir, together with Oldendorff, established a union for workers to get rid of the then recognised union, and to date that union has been unable to negotiate one agreement with the company or get redress for any transgression committed against any employee.
Now he hits the campaign trail pretending to care about workers. This nation is reminded that as Minister of Finance public servants in 1999 had to strike for 57 days to acquire wage increase. This issue ended up at arbitration, which is unprecedented in the history of this country. And in spite of the Armstrong Arbitration award his government refused to honour same in its entirety, a pattern Donald Ramotar has followed suit. To his shameless statement of saving jobs, it was under his leadership 67 workers at BGCI/RUSAL were suspended protesting for improved working conditions.
Under Jagdeo leadership, there was a total breakdown in law and order, disregard for the universal right to collective bargaining and freedom of association, and all fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual. It is thanks to him Guyana has earned the reputation of being the most corrupt in the Caribbean.
During his stewardship, hundreds of young men were executed by a government sponsored death squad and in turf wars. Many mothers are still unaware where the bodies of their children are buried. He must shoulder the responsibility for the deaths of Sash Sawh, Ronald Waddell, Lusignan, Bartica and Lindo Creek, since rather than ensuring justice to the aggrieved he chose to turn these horror stories into partisan politicking.
It is Jagdeo who has made Guyana’s president one of the richest in the Caribbean, as he throws back on a Cadillac lifestyle on the backs of underpaid and overtaxed workers in this donkey cart economy. Under his leadership the narco economy began rivalling the formal economy and drug lords find association with those in the corridors of power.
Jagdeo’s words are never truthful and can never be taken as his bond. This society must therefore judge him on his record, and it is abysmal, lawless, corrupt and self-serving. It is time he gets out of this nation’s life and allows her people to determine what they would like to have away from his gibberish.
Lincoln Lewis
