In modern politics, there should be no place for politicians like Jagdeo

JULY 10, 2015 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER FEATURES / COLUMNISTS, FREDDIE KISSOON

It is simply unbelievable that against a balance sheet of sheer political horror, the PPP selected Bharrat Jagdeo to lead it in Parliament. On every level, Mr. Jagdeo has either been a horrible performer or an incompetent manager. Let us look at some of these compartments. Corruption sank the PPP in both the 2011 and 2015 general elections. The PPP is running around Guyana telling people that the 2015 election was rigged. The PPP seriously believed that it got all the Indian votes. It did not. Decent East Indians rejected the PPP because of the PPP’s corruptibility. Under his presidency, it was not that his underlings stole a few bucks or pinched a computer here and there or took a car for their own use. Corruption took on monstrous proportions under Mr. Jagdeo and he sat back and laughed. Mr. Jagdeo encouraged the culture of corruptibility. Shortly after 2001, President Jagdeo appointed a Minister from outside the ranks of the PPP. This man approached a well known businessman for a million dollars in exchange for ministerial concessions. The businessman told Mr. Glenn Lall who informed us at Kaieteur News that he had conveyed the information to President Jagdeo. From 2001 until the PPP lost power that man grew bigger and bigger. Mr. Jagdeo refused to touch him. Mr. Jagdeo refused to even speak to the accumulators of vast wealth in his party and government, wealth that belonged to the citizens of Guyana. Against this backdrop, this very Jagdeo is the Opposition Leader. On the level of discipline, the PPP should have ostracized Mr. Jagdeo since he left office in 2011. Mr. Jagdeo ran a ragamuffin regime from 1999 to 2011 in which indiscipline among his PPP subordinates had reached morbid levels. Three times in these columns I argued that I doubted very strongly that the leaders in the Nazi regime would have tolerated the nihilistic indiscipline that occurred within the Jagdeo cabal. Not for a moment did Mr. Jagdeo consider that he was the President and needed to observe the rules of protocol for the sake of the image of his country. As Opposition Leader would Mr. Jagdeo change? I doubt it. Mr. Jagdeo is going to run a ragamuffin opposition where PPP Members of Parliament are going to continue in their old ways. They will be seen at day clubs, nightclubs or whatever clubs doing what they have always done – misbehaving. And Mr. Jagdeo as their leader will do what he has always done – nothing. On the level of ethnic reconciliation, Mr. Jagdeo is going to harm the PPP in devastating ways. Known for the worst outpouring of racist poison in the history of election campaigns, Mr. Jagdeo crossed the civilized line in the 2015 election. What we will have in this country is an opposition party that half of the nation dislikes because it sees the leader as hating them. Could Mr. Jagdeo as Opposition Leader convince African Guyanese that if his party comes to power, he will treat them fairly? Can he convince them that he is not racist? But more importantly, will the security forces live with a future PPP Government with Mr. Jagdeo at the helm? Memories will be fresh. Mr. Jagdeo told PPP constituencies during the May campaign that if APNU came to power soldiers would invade their homes, rob and hurt them. These were words coming from a man that was the commander-in-chief of the army for twelve consecutive years. The army served this man loyally for twelve years only to find that in 2015, he told Indian people to beware of them because if the PPP does not win the elections, solders will kill them. An interesting point of discussion during the election was centred on the attitude of the army if the PPP had won. Just before the May polls, President Ramotar had made Jagdeo head of a new body, the Economic Commission. The re-election of Ramotar would have seen the power elevation of Jagdeo. Could the security forces have brought themselves to serve Jagdeo? Maybe it was good for the country that the PPP lost, because we may have seen the first coup in Guyana’s history. All eyes will be on Mr. Jagdeo as he holds his first press conference as Opposition Leader. All the journalists who will attend that meeting should prepare, long in advance, their questions because every Guyanese will want to hear what they ask Mr. Jagdeo. Obviously, the first question should be if he is still predicting the forceful entry of the homes of Indian Guyanese by soldiers with the intention of robbing them?