November 24, 2013 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, My Column 

There is always the saying that one should never tempt fate. I have seen young motorcyclists weaving their way through traffic as though they are daring the cars and other vehicles on the road to hit them. A relative of my ex-wife was one of those who tempted fate.
He had one of those so-called big bikes and he would go speeding along the roadways, enjoying the adrenaline rush. But as they say, all good things come to an end. One day there he was speeding along the East Bank Demerara thoroughfare, with a cousin as pillion rider, when he weaved from behind a car and slammed into a truck that was coming in the opposite direction.
People who witnessed the accident said that this young man flew into the air, reaching as high as the electric wires that are strung along the posts. I remember seeing a piece of a fender on the wall of his mother’s home. From this distance in time all I could say was that this young man tempted fate once too often.
I have heard somewhere that a young Bharrat Jagdeo was one who also tempted fate. It is as if to say that when one is young, one tempts fate almost at will. I am certain that he tempted fate with the information provided by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, that he received in November 2011.
That was the year when we all knew that elections were due, but from the way things were going, it almost appeared that the elections would have come without an announcement from Bharrat Jagdeo. In the end the announcement came and the date was no longer a surprise. Jagdeo had waited until the very last moment to make the announcement.
He was certain that his party would win the elections with a handsome majority. After that victory, many things would simply be put into place using the parliamentary majority. That would explain why Jagdeo went ahead with a large number of projects at a time when ruling parties would be asked to hold off on projects until after the elections.
Desmond Hoyte had to hold off on the Essequibo Road project although the money was there. However, Cheddi Jagan was there with his People’s Progressive Party. He had campaigned in the corridors of Washington and he had secured the services of others in the United States government and had won the assurance that he would be aided in his quest for power.
Hoyte was forced to put his government in pause mode. Jagdeo had no such restrictions. He announced the construction of the Marriott Hotel mere days before the elections. A few weeks earlier he had announced the pursuit of the Amaila Falls project, the Specialty Hospital, the One Laptop Per Family project and expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport project.
Many Third World Governments are not allowed to undertake new projects in the shadow of the elections, but Jagdeo did. He was supremely confident.  This confidence also saw him shelving the threat by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force.
The elections came and went, and with it, the result of Jagdeo’s over-confidence. His party did not enjoy the overwhelming parliamentary majority. This must have created some panic in the ranks, but the opposition parties were never made aware of the things that lurked in the background. We saw the arrogance in the guise of tradition that the ruling party should control the parliamentary select committees.
This did not happen; there were changes, so the first brick was falling off the wall of protection. Then there were the votes in parliament, one of which put paid to the Amaila Falls project. There was another vote that stalled the Specialty Hospital project. Jagdeo’s dreams were not materializing. And all this time the CFATF warning rested on the president’s desk.
It might have remained there had the CFATF not sent another and more chilling warning early this year. Then it was that the government attempted to pass the legislation. And so it went to the National Assembly and to the Parliamentary Select Committee.
The haste to get the Bill into law did not pass unnoticed, but the opposition must have learnt by now that there should not have been this rush. The result is that they dug in their heels and stalled the vote.
Had there been the PPP majority, there would have been so many things happening and the nation would have been helpless to ensure that the right thing was done.  There would have been the media headlines criticizing the decisions and there would have been the retort from the government that there were anti-national elements who wanted to prevent Guyana from making its march toward destiny.
Guyana has suffered because of a young man’s penchant for tempting fate and for walking close to the edge. Indeed, he did some good; he made Guyana earn almost US$250 million from Norway. He made Guyana gain recognition as an environmentally conscious nation, although it has one of the dirtiest capitals in the world.
These lessons should make the politicians recognize that they are all important in the scheme of things;that they should now sit and talk, that they should plan together. Instead, I get the distinct impression that there is still this quest for uninhibited power.
Meanwhile, Guyana is blacklisted as a result of Jagdeo’s dice with fate, the decision to wait until there was a parliamentary majority in favour of the ruling PPP.