June 30, 2022
Dear Editor,
During the Forbes Burnham era, Guyanese were in awe and supported him as a political leader. I find it darkly disturbing that today there are Guyanese who are in awe of and support Bharrat Jagdeo as a political leader. While I focus on Jagdeo as a public figure, handling government business, the eerie similarity between Burnham and Jagdeo could best be described as ‘cult of personality’ politics, which became reinforced following the recent airing of the Vice Media interview. While some dismissed the interview as having ‘no smoking gun’ or ‘gotcha’ moment that snared Jagdeo, it is Jagdeo’s own words, uttered in relation to Su’s role in what should be government business, that are enough to disqualify Jagdeo from ever serving in government now and in the future.
The interviewer said to Jagdeo: “Su told us that if you want to get anything done in Guyana, you need some hook-ups. I’m very close friends with the Vice President and the other officials. The Vice President and I share a very close relationship. Also, if we do the business, he’ll help out no matter what…he’s really treating us as close brothers. He’s already trying to help us as much as possible. Of course, I need to give back to him in return.” Jagdeo reportedly said of Su, who was a tenant in one of Jagdeo’s private properties, “He gets all the support. Su deals with all the agreements. I don’t. The thing is, my thing is that I am in government, so I assist from the government side.”
Interviewer: “Su has shown us very lucrative contracts between himself and Chinese state-run operations to develop big infrastructure projects in Guyana. He told us that China State Con-struction Engineering Corpora-tion helped the Chinese company to make a deal. Up to now they pay me $500,000…” Editor, while I don’t think the interview has moved the needle on the meter of opinion among Jagdeo’s supporters, that interview should move other Guyanese to see the big picture painted in relation to the best interest of Guyana.
It is not just the interview, but what preceded the interview that shows a pattern. From Stabroek News, which suffered State ads withdrawal for challenging the Jagdeo regime in areas of transparency and accountability, to Kaieteur News, which now has a fixed catalogue of red flag activities during the Jagdeo presidency, to Christopher Ram, whose website has chronicled some serious red-flagged deals and contracts, to Anand Goolsarran’s weekly features in Stabroek News, to Transparency Inter-national and its Guyana Chapter, to even the late Yesu Persaud, we have been educated and inform-ed a great deal about Bharrat Jagdeo as a public figure with his hands on the country’s levers of political and economic power.
As with Burnham, who died in office with his hands on the levers of political and economic power, Jagdeo is now part of the cult of personality politics that seem to point to the dangerous trend in democracies where one politician becomes the embodiment of government operations and policies. The gravitational axis around which everything and everyone revolves. Even when Burnham’s policies started the gradual socioeconomic decline of Guyana, there were Guyanese who kept talking about his oratorical skills and being a man with ‘presence’. Today, despite all we have read about Jagdeo’s mishandling of government business, the will by his supporters to fight for free and fair elections results, is conspicuously absent in the fight for transparency and accountability. I recall reading one supporter saying he does not always see eye-to-eye with Jagdeo, but described him as the best thing for Guyana’s economy. Really?
Go-Invest Office, headed by Dr. Peter Ramsaroop, primary function is to facilitate anyone seeking to invest in Guyana. So why was Jagdeo describing Su as the one who arranges meetings for investors, while he (Jagdeo) handles the arrangement on the government side? That, itself, is more than a smoking gun; it is an exploding bomb, because Su – to whom the government granted a license to mine on 40,000 acres of land and who struck a secret deal to build a hotel – was a private person and a tenant in one of Jagdeo’s private properties. That’s a massive conflict of interest right there for Jagdeo, which means Jagdeo has lost his right to be in government or represent the government. And who is to say that Su was or is not the only private ‘arranger’ to be paid some kind of fee to obtain government favours?
That Su-Jagdeo relationship also exposed two economic systems in Guyana. The formal system deals with government practices and policies for some investors, as in the case of the Trinidadian company being rejected trying to set up shop in Guyana’s emerging energy sector, and the informal system that handles other investors who are part of an ‘arrangement’ or pay-to-play system. Editor, I am relieved the Chinese company identified by Jagdeo for the Amaila Falls hydro project has had a change of heart, because after watching Bai Shan Lin get caught shipping logs out of Guyana in steel containers, on a mere exploratory logging permit (different from an actual logging and shipping license), that Amaila deal could have backfired disastrously on the backs of Guyanese had it gone through.
The Vice Media interview should compel every Guyanese, at home and abroad, who truly cares about Guyana, to do everything in our power to work towards regime change in 2025. While we have a right and responsibility to fight for free and fair elections, we also have a commensurate right and responsibility to fight for transparency and accountability. The right to govern does not mean the right to sell or loot Guyana for personal gain.
Sincerely,
Emile Mervin