A leader undresses in public
Dec 19, 2024
By GHK Lall
Kaieteur News- Often when men of power open their mouths, it is fascinating how they give themselves away. The more powerful they are, devoured by power, and the more that they speak with contemptuous regard for essentials, the more they reveal who they are at the core. They carelessly, unknowingly sometimes, arrogantly often, undress themselves.
They do so in public, which once again emphasizes the law of unanticipated revelations. Today, I present Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, Vice President of anything with a name, as well as those without, maybe even not in existence. Oftentimes, the man is too wise for his own good. It has happened to me, so in the spirit of this special time of the year, this hour of grand cash infusions, I extend the usual helping hand.
Two references, only two, are presented to sketch how Dr. Jagdeo renders himself naked, with not even a fig leaf left for him to hide behind. From the grand old city of Istanbul sailed an electricity vessel from a group calling itself Karpowership. Guyanese in dire need of a steady supply of electricity needed that rescue boat, anything that could help them salvage something out of their energy-savaged days. So, it’s here. The company has a history of doing business a certain way. It is a way that Guyanese know well, because they have paid harsh prices at the hands of their own governments here, their parliaments, and their other elected and selected officials. Bribery and malfeasances need no introduction in Guyana.
The company has its history, but Jagdeo had a ready story. Is this electricity wanted or not? In a time of rolling and inundating blackouts, is this a time for naysayers and second guessers (and other subversives) to quibble, criticize, condemn? There are such times, Mr. Jagdeo. For clean governance, for political leadership that can be trusted (recall the US$214 million audit findings developments, disposition{s}), for a Guyana that tries to do things right.
And succeeds. If today a power-ship partner with polka dots, then tomorrow what about a gas plant that becomes a plague? Stand for something, brother Jagdeo. No harm admitting to slippage. There’s an army of minions ready to carry the baggage. Remember the US$214 million audit findings that Exxon and somebody with such sweeping power in Guyana orchestrated. These matters have a certain melody to them. Just like those two-worded songs that included a name. One was “Oh, Donna”; another went under the label of “O, Carol”. It is better to redress than undress. Because if for something like a powerboat, then what else? Where is the limit? What is there to restrain? What excuses next?
More recently, the vice president roared out of the paddock, as though his socks were on fire. Perhaps they were, considering the issue that inflamed him. The Opposition is interested in a seat on the procurement bench. It might be easier for one of its members to get on the chancellor’s bench. Ah, public procurement is where my heart is, my soul invested. Hundreds of billions in the kitty, and the Opposition has the temerity, the infelicity, the impudicity to suggest that it be allowed to be near that rich honey. Pardon is asked for huffing a page from the honourable Attorney General’s playbook. The Opposition is not only just too rich, it is too damn problematic. The extra effort needed to cover up. The exposures that could follow. The reductions in income (loot) to be foregone. There is madness, and there is pure, unadulterated madness. The latter belongs to the Opposition for that eccentric, dangerous proposition.
Gone with the wind in Dr. Jagdeo’s mind is how the democracy that he loves works. There is true love, and there is love that betrays. Take a pick and present it to Mr. Jagdeo, with my compliments. This is the PPP Government of Master Bluffer, Dr. Irfaan Ali, who treasures accountability, despite Jagdeo’s raucous resistant negativity: NO! to the Opposition. Electricity, anybody? What better way to get accountability, Mr. President? I humbly address both of them who hold that lofty position. My biggest anxiety is if an Opposition member (or two) were to be permitted to participate in public procurement proceedings, and then decide that self-help is the best course of survival. The leopard spots may fade with arthritis, but the fundamental character of most Guyanese politicians is a thing of beauty. What’s in it for me? In other words, no Opposition objections facilitate collections.
What’s the point of referencing a powerboat and procurement? It is that if Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, a former president, a current chief policymaker, could think along these lines, react in this manner in the glare of the midday sun, then how is he and what is he about in private relative to other things held sacred in Guyana? May I dare to think, be bold enough, to identify the Guyana Constitution? With its checks and balances, its untouchable safeguarding state institutions, its revered rights of citizens, even the lowest, the most unpleasant? What regard would he have, could he be capable of, in private, re those cherished standards, protections that should not be invalidated? Look at the state of each one of those state bastions, under Mr. Jagdeo’s guiding hand, and there’s the answer. Last, be brave: peel the onion. Examine the raw, pungent, putrid state of the State itself.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of this newspaper.)
(A leader undresses in public)
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