The moment for audacity is here for Indian-Guyanese
November 13, 2011 | By KNews | Filed Under Letters




Dear Editor,
Political courage has largely been a missing ingredient from the Guyanese voter’s makeup since race politics was started by Burnham and the Jagans in the 1950s. Most are trapped in race, fear and apathy. However, we have had moments of political gallantry in Guyana where some voters have managed to break the shackles that enslaved them to race politics and to failed politics.
A substantial percentage of Africans monumentally did so for Walter Rodney’s WPA. That was the first sign of mass political courage for an ethnic group that held power since the ugliness of the 1950s. The year 2006 was the second incident of note. Although not exactly the same as the African experience in the late 1970s, 2006 was the first time in 20 years of elections that many Guyanese people refused to vote for race-based parties.
Thirty-one percent did not show up. The PPP and PNC have to be very afraid of what happened in 2006. It was the start of a trend. Courage sometimes takes time and I believe that 2006 was the beginning of a tsunami that will occur on November 28, 2011.
The 2011 threatens to be the culmination of a remarkable transformation of Indian-Guyanese political choice and a constellation of factors have lined up perfectly to create the perfect storm for a powerful Indian political awakening in Guyana.
While there is no Walter Rodney persona available and we know those only appear once in a generation, there are legendary political figures who resonate with Indians such as Moses Nagamootoo available for the first time to Indian voters in the opposition camp. The PPP’s chicanery, savagery and outlandish plunder and corruption have reached a breaking point in the hearts and minds of many Indians who have made peace with the idea of throwing them out.
Many Indians are contemplating the idea of a one term timeout for the PPP where the PPP is cast out of office for one term to effect the necessary reform to the party and to find new leadership before returning the PPP to power in 2016.
Jagdeo’s conduct or more appropriately misconduct has disgusted many Indians who support the PPP and they are ready to see him banished and that ridiculous pension he has given himself changed.
For the first time in Guyana’s history, Indians have a political alternative in the leaner and cleaner AFC that is dominated by Indians and by former PPP leaders. Indians have also realized that the PNC is one foot in the grave and the other in the coffin and that it cannot ever win an election again in a democratic Guyana. PPP fear-based campaigning does not impact this younger group of Indians who are tougher, stronger and don’t scare easily. I believe the moment for audacity is here for Indian-Guyanese. The time for courage is upon the Indian people. Just like they have battled PNC injustice, inequality and corruption, they are battling it all over again with this failed version of the PPP.
I know that many Indians who support the PPP are already waging a war in their hearts, minds and souls over whether they should stay or leave. I say they have to leave even if for five years to tame this Jagdeo-led beast before it tears us all to shreds. Many Africans had the same conversation with their souls at the height of the PNC dictatorship when the WPA arrived. Some decided that it cannot benefit a man to gain the world but lose his soul. We had an African awakening in the late 1970s and we are on the cusp of an Indian awakening on November 28, 2011. Indians, like Africans, come from a rich history of resistance to wrongdoing. Indian political determination will change Guyana in 2011 and give it karmic reincarnation. Something big is about to happen on November 28, 2011. Vote for it. Be a part of it.
M. Maxwell

The Jagdeo Presidency: A dozen years of degeneration and decay

By Arif Bulkan | 8 Comments | In The Diaspora | Monday, November 7, 2011 Share 242Email PrintArif Bulkan teaches human rights law at the University of the West Indies in Barbados.

What would an honest evaluation of the Jagdeo Presidency reveal? Its genesis lay in naked constitutional manipulation, for in the 1997 general elections Bharrat Jagdeo had not been elected as President or Prime Minister by the People. Thus when Janet Jagan disclosed in August 1999 that she could no longer continue as President due to her declining health, Jagdeo’s succession was contrived through a circuitous route. First, Sam Hinds was required to resign so that Jagdeo could be sworn in as Prime Minister on August 9th, and this was followed by Janet Jagan’s resignation and Jagdeo’s assumption of the Presidency on August 11th. This process gave fair warning to the Guyanese people of how slender national ‘democracy’ was, for in a country where one party has a stranglehold on power, the only hope of forestalling imperial rule is if that party’s internal structure has processes and mechanisms by which its leader(s) can be held accountable. But Jagdeo was a handpicked successor, revealing the imperial nature of the power possessed by the head of the ruling party and that party’s fundamentally undemocratic nature. More troubling was that his installation in office required the circumvention of the supreme law of the land, but this did not seem to give the PPP as an institution any cause for discomfort. All this was an ominous portent of things to come. Janet Jagan may have thought that she was installing a puppet – but just as she was able to exercise maximum power as President, so too was her creation eventually able to function, uncontainable even by her (there’s a lesson there for Jagdeo and Ramotar, but that’s another story).

Back in 1999, a battered electorate gave little thought to PPP intrigue, despite the very public manner in which events unfolded. Jagdeo’s youth represented a refreshing antidote to the old guard and party loyalists, and his selection on the eve of the millennium could have been taken to herald both literal and symbolic rebirth. And to be fair, in the intervening twelve years there have been instances where Jagdeo has demonstrated solid leadership – notably in the principled stand he took with regard to the Economic Partnership Agreement being forced down the region’s throats by the European Union, despite the considerable opposition of his counterparts in CARICOM. Sadly, however, for the most part Jagdeo’s rule has been a bitter disappointment, where any initial promise was quickly extinguished by an autocratic, intolerant, vindictive, incompetent and verbally abusive style of governance. I could go on, for there are many negative adjectives which can be used to describe Jagdeo’s presidency, but when I saw the photograph taken of the President at the India Day parade in New York City, I thought that it said it all.

This week’s column will focus on two prominent features of his presidency symbolised in the photograph:
1) the way in which he has consistently indulged himself, the public purse be damned, and
2) the way in which he has materially indulged his cronies, again without regard for the public purse.

Personal indulgence

Jagdeo’s personal financial dealings need little recounting. As I pointed out in an earlier column, the sale of his first state-subsidized house and land in Goedverwagting at a price that far exceeds market value and to Guyana’s consul in Trinidad and Tobago is one that reeks of impropriety and would have been immediately investigated in any functioning democracy.

Immediately after this sale Jagdeo acquired more state-subsidized lands, but at a price far below market value. A number of irregularities surrounded this second transaction: the President obtained more than 4 times the amount of land a re-migrant can purchase; he paid barely one-sixth of what a re-migrant would have had to pay; and the allocation to him was made by Cabinet in violation of standard policies that state-subsidized land is only to be distributed to persons who do not own or have not owned property in the previous 5 years. Most obscene of all, as pointed out by Bro. Eusi Kwayana, the lands awarded to the President form part of a post-emancipation village. That many of the descendants of those first villages still live in squatting areas while the choicest lands built through the sweat of working people are reserved for Jagdeo and his cabal of supporters, is a monstrous injustice.

It then emerged that 29 tons of building material was shipped to Jagdeo from alleged criminal Ed Ahmad. Mr. Ahmad has other unsavoury antecedents – in the US he “loaned” money to Congressman Meeks, which was only re-paid when the authorities commenced an investigation. Sometime before (or after) Ahmad sent the container of building material to the President, he secured lands from Guysuco on the West Bank. We will have to do the math, because unlike in the US, there will be no official investigation into these events.

Then it has been reported that on each trip abroad, Jagdeo receives a US$5,000 (G$1 million) out-of-pocket allowance over and above the funding for the trip, for which he does not have to account. Compare that to the minimum wage of G$35,000 per month and Guyana today is like France under the Bourbons (of the ‘let them eat cake’ period).

Then there is the presidential pension, which will afford Jagdeo a life of post-retirement luxury. How the $3 million monthly figure has been computed is a mystery to me. Under the law passed by Jagdeo’s minions in parliament many of the benefits are uncapped, so the cost to the taxpayer could conceivably exceed $3m given the standards presently exhibited.

Cronyism

A key feature of the Jagdeo Presidency is the majestic enrichment of a select cabal of his supporters. The examples are endless.

1.The recently released report of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee reveals major irregularities in public spending for the 2 years it reviewed (2007-8), including overpayments to contractors and payment to contractors for work that was not completed. It is public knowledge that the vast majority of national infrastructural works are awarded to a select few contractors. The latest in a long string of examples is the award to a favoured contractor, BK International, of a $138 million contract for upgrading the Supenaam stelling. This comes less than 2 years after BK drew down more than $400 million for work on the same stelling that was completely botched, leaving it unusable for over 2 years. In other words, the same company is being given more money for a job that it already bungled, when in the normal course of business it should be sued and ordered to repay or finish the job properly.

2. Or consider the case of the single-sourcing of drugs from New GPC by the Ministry of Health. This has been going on since 1997, and after 2003 in direct violation of the Public Procurement Act. Since 2003 the practice has been facilitated, arguably unlawfully, by Cabinet decision. Between 2003 and 2008, it resulted in over G$3 BILLION for New GPC. Single-sourcing of any good means that the purchase price may not be competitive, and as if that were not irregular enough, it was revealed in Parliament that the drugs were paid for up front – in other words, Guyanese taxpayers funded the company’s operations, something absolutely unheard of in business. To add insult to injury, New GPC’s parent company then turned around and loaned money for the construction of the Berbice River bridge at between 9-11% interest, which interest will not be taxed! As is well known, New GPC is a subsidiary of the Queens Atlantic (QA II) group of companies owned by the Ramroop family, one member of which is a close friend of none other than Jagdeo himself.

3. The same QA II was illegally granted certain tax concessions by the Jagdeo administration. When Mr. Yesu Persaud spoke of these concessions at the launching of Guyana Times on June 5th 2008, he was publicly attacked by the President. Later, when accountant & attorney Chris Ram exposed the administration’s lies on this point, the Jagdeo government hurriedly passed a law to retroactively legitimize their earlier, unlawful act.

4. In 2009 Fidelity Investment evaded taxes and customs duties in excess of $321 million, but even though customs officers raided their premises and found over 73,000 cases of Polar beer for which the company could provide no import documents, the case against the company was discontinued by the State with no explanation given to the special prosecutor or to the public at large.
5. Earlier this year the one laptop per family project was announced, but in the public domain there was much inconsistency regarding its cost as announced by the government. Worse, a price to be paid for each laptop was announced, even though the tender process had not even been commenced.

6. The Amaila Falls hydro-electricity project has been dogged by similar concerns over the cost of the project and the lack of transparency surrounding the bidding process. All that is known to the public at this stage is that there is a US$200 million gap in the actual cost of construction and the original estimate given (the latter has since increased by another US$135 million, making that gap now US$335 million). Where or to whom is that extra money going?

7. Earlier this year the government leased almost 2 million acres of land to a businessman from India for 30 years at G$394 (yes, a little less than two US dollars per acre). Again, this lease was not the subject of a transparent or competitive bidding process, and Guyanese do not know what other benefits attend the deal. Does it attract special tax concessions? How come the company is reportedly being allowed to export species for which there are existing bans in the law?

One can continue to list the secretive and scandalous deals by this government, but the underlying features are similar. Principally, key oversight institutions have been either run into the ground by the government or are simply not functioning. Anand Goolsarran, who as Auditor General brought many irregularities to light, was run out of office in 2004 when he attempted to investigate a dolphin scandal involving the President’s adviser. Since then, the vacancy left by Dr. Goolsarran’s departure has not been permanently filled, so even were the incumbent minded to act courageously the precariousness of the position is an obvious impediment. The government refuses to appoint a Public Procurement Commission, which means that there is no transparency in and scrutiny of the procurement of goods and services and the execution of public works. This state of affairs facilitates overpayment and shoddy performance. Most of the beneficiaries of this largesse tend to be friends and associates of the President, hence the charge of cronyism. Where foreigners are involved, the deals are invariably negotiated in secret. The end result is the stifling of competition, a higher cost of living, and the concentration of wealth in the hands of a favoured few.

Add this up and the picture is clear. Notwithstanding the low salaries, unlivable pensions and general impoverishment of most Guyanese, President Jagdeo shamelessly grabs whatever he can for himself (and his chosen friends) – lands, container of goods, lavish US dollar allowances, overseas trips, maids, gardeners and pension for life – wherever he is, and irrespective of who is looking on. In next week’s column I will conclude by examining the intolerance and decay that, taken together with the cronyism, characterise Jagdeo’s 12 year period of rule.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jalil:







Can I find this in ceramic?

Desmond Hoyte also thought that Indians would not vote for the PPP in 1992.

Can someone please tell Jagdeo that the ladies in the photo don't need food,clothes,better pensions,housing,medical help.....they need a lap top to improve their lives......

quote:

Originally posted by Churchill:
Can someone please tell Jagdeo that the ladies in the photo don't need food,clothes,better pensions,housing,medical help.....they need a lap top to improve their lives......

Jagdeo reads GNI every nite B 4 he gous to sleep.

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:

quote:

Originally posted by Churchill:
Can someone please tell Jagdeo that the ladies in the photo don't need food,clothes,better pensions,housing,medical help.....they need a lap top to improve their lives......

Jagdeo reads GNI every nite B 4 he gous to sleep.

Well I hope he understands what I wrote....

quote:

Originally posted by Churchill:

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:

quote:

Originally posted by Churchill:
Can someone please tell Jagdeo that the ladies in the photo don't need food,clothes,better pensions,housing,medical help.....they need a lap top to improve their lives......

Jagdeo reads GNI every nite B 4 he gous to sleep.

Well I hope he understands what I wrote....

He is amazed are your sarcasm. he knows who you are..

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:

quote:

Originally posted by Churchill:

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:

quote:

Originally posted by Churchill:
Can someone please tell Jagdeo that the ladies in the photo don't need food,clothes,better pensions,housing,medical help.....they need a lap top to improve their lives......

Jagdeo reads GNI every nite B 4 he gous to sleep.

Well I hope he understands what I wrote....

He is amazed are your sarcasm. he knows who you are..

I don't care a rat's ass whether he knows who I am.....the fact is my sarcasm sends a message to him that the people need better social conditions and not laptops.....

quote:

Originally posted by Churchill:

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:

quote:

Originally posted by Churchill:

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:

quote:

Originally posted by Churchill:
Can someone please tell Jagdeo that the ladies in the photo don't need food,clothes,better pensions,housing,medical help.....they need a lap top to improve their lives......

Jagdeo reads GNI every nite B 4 he gous to sleep.

Well I hope he understands what I wrote....

He is amazed are your sarcasm. he knows who you are..

I don't care a rat's ass whether he knows who I am.....the fact is my sarcasm sends a message to him that the people need better social conditions and not laptops.....

His term has ended and you should direct your comments to the new President.

better social conditions will come about if Indians can stop drinking and start to think about their families for a change.

Jagdeo got one of them laptop per family as well??? So where is the family then?

quote:

Originally posted by Mr.T:
Jagdeo got one of them laptop per family as well??? So where is the family then?

No! He doesn't. He had one long before.

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:
His term has ended and you should direct your comments to the new President..

Jagdeo's term is not ending as he has set Ramouthar up to be his proxy.....he is hoping to get his third term through Ramouthar......

The working people are unto his politricks....many show up at the PPP/C rallies these days for the freebees which include live performances by local performers......

When the people are in the ballot booths it will be a different story.....

quote:

Originally posted by Churchill:

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:
His term has ended and you should direct your comments to the new President..

Jagdeo's term is not ending as he has set Ramouthar up to be his proxy.....he is hoping to get his third term through Ramouthar......

The working people are unto his politricks....many show up at the PPP/C rallies these days for the freebees which include live performances by local performers......

When the people are in the ballot booths it will be a different story.....

That is waht happens at rallies. Jagdeo has the ability and experience to pull that off and it wouldn't be a bad thing. It means progress will continue and the AFC will disappear.

You will not be invited to the PPP conference again.

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:

quote:

Originally posted by Churchill:

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:
His term has ended and you should direct your comments to the new President..

Jagdeo's term is not ending as he has set Ramouthar up to be his proxy.....he is hoping to get his third term through Ramouthar......

The working people are unto his politricks....many show up at the PPP/C rallies these days for the freebees which include live performances by local performers......

When the people are in the ballot booths it will be a different story.....

That is waht happens at rallies. Jagdeo has the ability and experience to pull that off and it wouldn't be a bad thing. It means progress will continue and the AFC will disappear.

You will not be invited to the PPP conference again.

I have said it before....I am not a member of the AFC so there is no need to tell me that the AFC will disappear.....as far as the invitation to PPP conferences no need to tell me that also as I didn't respond to the past two invitations.....

The fact remains that the PPP, the party I supported and contributed to since the mid sixties has changed in its priorities and a new class of exploiters has emerged.....this new class is closely linked to Jagdeo and Ramouthar......

The clique which hijacked the PPP will pay dearly for their evil deeds.....

PPP shivering. I don't think they expected what has been coming their way. They burst onto the scene with a massive show of "bussed-in" rallies and have been in retreat ever since. They dismissed the AFC and is now paying the price.

The PPP big bluff re: attendance at its rallies is a big joke in Guyana. The ethnic composition of the supporters at Stewartville looked like a meeting at Mon Repos.

quote:

Originally posted by Rahmah bin Jabr:
The PPP big bluff re: attendance at its rallies is a big joke in Guyana. The ethnic composition of the supporters at Stewartville looked like a meeting at Mon Repos.

They got exposed. As the say, you can fool some of the seople some of the time...not all and not forever. Forever is here an now.

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:

quote:

Originally posted by Churchill:

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:

quote:

Originally posted by Churchill:
Can someone please tell Jagdeo that the ladies in the photo don't need food,clothes,better pensions,housing,medical help.....they need a lap top to improve their lives......

Jagdeo reads GNI every nite B 4 he gous to sleep.

Well I hope he understands what I wrote....

He is amazed are your sarcasm. he knows who you are..

i hope he know me too,when he lose this election,i will up in his face

Here's the problem with the AFC chest beaters. Guyana is progressing and the standard of living for the entire population has increased significantly. The AFC boys are trying to convince these folks that their lives are full of blight and despair.The problem is that there is a disconnect with reality, people walking around with cell phones in their pockets and milk in their belly and these fools trying to tell then life is sour under the PPP. hahahahhhaha

quote:

Originally posted by BGurd_See:
Here's the problem with the AFC chest beaters. Guyana is progressing and the standard of living for the entire population has increased significantly.

Most Guyanese dont agree with you and the large Guyanese communities on tiny islands is proof of this.

Now people like your family, who are in bed with the PPP, are doing well but thats them.

Druggie at heart you are an AFC, because you hate communists and crony capitalists which is what the PPP are....like all long term Marxist Leninists. I feel confident that most independent business people (i.e. those not part of the PPP cronu brigade, or terrified of being punished by Jagdeo) are at heart AFC supporters.

Now only had the AFC been more aggressive in regions 3, 4 and 10.

quote:

Originally posted by caribj:

Most Guyanese dont agree with you and the large Guyanese communities on tiny islands is proof of this.

Now people like your family, who are in bed with the PPP, are doing well but thats them.

Druggie at heart you are an AFC, because you hate communists and crony capitalists which is what the PPP are....like all long term Marxist Leninists. I feel confident that most independent business people (i.e. those not part of the PPP cronu brigade, or terrified of being punished by Jagdeo) are at heart AFC supporters.

Now only had the AFC been more aggressive in regions 3, 4 and 10.

Don't know if you noticed recently but there is very little news coming out of these tiny islands regarding Guyanese. That is because most are now making their way back home to Guyana as the pickings there is better than in the Islands. The PPP has encouraged investment in the nation and shared milk to freedom fighters and many now have joined their rank. Even the Guyanese in CA and US are thinking about returning, a sentiment we haven't had in decades.

quote:

Originally posted by BGurd_See:
]

Don't know if you noticed recently but there is very little news coming out of these tiny islands regarding Guyanese. .

Dont worry. Guyanese are still there. redjet has begun service to Antigu to exploit the fact that 10% of the people living there are Guyanese. Seen as being so well off that some have been robbed on their visits to Guyana.

quote:

Originally posted by BGurd_See:
Even the Guyanese in CA and US are thinking about returning, a sentiment we haven't had in decades.

tell teh whole story. They plan to return to RETIRE as a poor nation means their US$ and CD$ will go further. Most will return to NA for medical visits, terrified of dying at PHG.