An entire nation depended on a youthful president Jadgeo to break the stranglehold of race-based politics

With your kind permission, I would like to use your newspapers’ letters column to respond to a seldom blogger’s (rs dasai) question posed on Demerara Waves [DW] blogsite under news article, “CARICOM making ‘considerable progress’ on easing Haitian crisis,” March 8, instant, and attributed to President Irfaan Ali. In the article, DW noted that Ali, as current Chairman of CARICOM, did not present details of the ‘considerable progress’ claimed on the ground in strife-ridden Haiti, which prompted to me blog equating him to his mentor, Bharrat Jagdeo, known for misspeaking. Blogger ‘rs dasai’ responded to me by asking, “Would you have anything to write about if you do not mention the Ministers of the current Guyana Government, especially President Ali and Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo?” It was a deeply thought-provoking question whose answer deserves the space necessary to inform and educate readers.

First, the primary reason I focused extensively on Jagdeo is because when he became President at age 35 in 1999, I saw his youthfulness as representing hope and change, breaking the stranglehold of racebased politics, and building bridges. Being born in January 1964 meant, as a baby during the 1964 riots, he was spared the scarred memory of the beatings, burnings, and killings. In 1964, I was six years old, and I still recall the beatings, burnings, and killings. My now deceased mother barely missed the ‘Son Chapman’ launch (boat) that left the Soesdyke wharf heading to then Mackenzie. The launch exploded in the vicinity of Dalgin, up the Demerara River. Everyone aboard perished.

Given the reins of government in 1999, Jagdeo already had experience working with the PNC government at the State Planning Secretariat, headed by then Deputy Prime Minister Haslyn Parris. Desmond Hoyte was President. Whatever PPP allegiance Jagdeo had did not preclude him from employment like Dr. Walter Rodney. Jagdeo’s time of employment under the PNC could easily have been used as a catalyst to show the PNC how a Guyana Government should be managed in a multiracial society. More than that, he knew there was some level of corruption in the PNC government, and that corruption carried over under the PPP government. That was why during a December 1999 press conference, a young President Jagdeo warned that ‘bureaucratic laziness has to change’, and that he will treat with zero tolerance, incidents of corruption brought to his attention. (“Jagdeo vows to stamp out bureaucratic laziness,” Stabroek News, December 5, 1999).

Jagdeo continued at the same presser noting that ‘while he could not guarantee there would be no corruption within his government…he warned his officers against ‘contract-splitting’. This was described as a form of bribery where contractors split the proceeds of a contract with a government official who has influence over the awards process. Editor, Jagdeo held himself out at the 1999 presser as an advocate and agent of change, but little did we know he was like a little boy with a Christmas blow-blow. An entire nation was depending on this youthful leader as a little Moses to lead Guyana out of the political wilderness of racial voting and the failed experimentation with communism/socialism. The dependency was based on the collective perception that, even though the PPP was assured longevity in the seat of government based on racial voting patterns, Jagdeo had the unique opportunity to effect the changes necessary to usher in a people-based government that Cheddie Jagan always preached about. Unfortunately, time would reveal that the PPP became hijacked to serve Jagdeo’s personal agenda: self-enrichment through self-empowerment.

Starting with his ‘best friend with benefits’ acquisition of Guyana

Pharmaceutical Corporation and Sanata Complex to becoming the biggest private stakeholder shares in Berbice Bridge, Guyanese were repeatedly beaten over the head with brazen red-flagged actions despite different people yelling the government was on fire with corruption as fuel. Under the Jagdeo regime, Stabroek News had government advertisements suspended. The late Yesu Persaud was publicly humiliated for questioning the government illegally awarding a concession to a business owned by Jagdeo’s best friend. (Parliament subsequently passed legislation to retroactively correct the anomaly). Kaieteur News came under blistering attack for its brave exposes of corruption. PPP stalwart Ralph Ramkarran took a bold stand and called out the government’s pervasive corruption, only to be hounded out of the party.

I can go on and on about questionable government contracts, including Fip Motilall’s US$15m signed in Jagdeo’s Office of the President, to the US$200m Chinese-built Skeldon Modernization Plant that never worked, to the recent GY$347m (+127 in 2024 Budget) Bamia school construction and the GY$865m Tepui drainage pump contract. Those are just the tip of the iceberg of questionable government contracts. And as if to show he was not done, Jagdeo came out of retirement and not only took over the party leadership, but the post of Opposition Leader. This was the same guy who sat quietly while private citizen Cedric Richardson filed a motion in Court seeking to void the constitutional two-term presidency as illegal; a move at that time that could only have benefited Jagdeo. The CCJ eventually got involved and ruled the term limit clause was legit.

To blogger ‘rs dasai’ and all those who share his political allegiance or persuasion, therefore, you must appreciate the disillusionment among Guyanese who are not PPP supporters but are disappointed with the PNC for failing to reinvent itself around changing dynamics. Many Indo-Guyanese and Afro-Guyanese yearn for a break from the past, but there has not been a leader proven capable of painting such a vision around which everyone, regardless of race, can rally around. The division only helps politicians. Starting in 1999, Jagdeo could have used his presidency as a bully pulpit to become an advocate and agent of change who broke the stranglehold of race-based politics. Instead, what we have witnessed from 1999 to now, is a PPP that was used as a vehicle for personal gain, while PPP writers/bloggers, whether paid or volunteers, have been used to distract Guyanese from what is happening in government by either pitting AfroGuyanese against Indo-Guyanese or PPP versus PNC.

As a Guyanese who has been harsh on Jagdeo, it has nothing to do with race or hate or worse. Jagdeo is human. He is somebody’s son, brother, nephew, uncle, cousin, relative or friend. Like many who share my frustration, the aim of criticisms is to trigger change; a 180degree turn in the way the government is being run. We want to see genuine top-down government reforms, starting with a people-based Constitution, the way government functions as a service delivery machine, restoration of transparency, accountability from President to paid paper pusher, and greater emphasis on the private sector as the engine of economic growth. In my next letter, I will focus on the vital role of the local media in helping to educate and inform Guyanese about their rights and roles as citizens in picking a government, accountable to people and not a party; to help shape their collective future. Ordinary Guyanese deserve a Pradoville lifestyle, too. And now! Not 2027!