Jagdeo could still find Damascus

Jan 23, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

It was a wonderful feeling to read that President Obama will be signing a presidential edict to dissolve secret CIA jails around the world. What did the US become under President Bush? How can you stop a man’s son from committing acts of revenge when you accuse his father of committing acts of terrorism but instead of allowing him to defend himself or prove his innocence, you hold him in a secret cell in an unknown destination for years? How can President Bush look people in the eyes and tell them that was right.
President Obama has inspired us. But there is more to come from this nascent Mandela. As he signs more executive orders to remove the illegalities that Mr. Bush perpetuated on his nation, we will become even more enchanted with this unique manifestation of homo sapiens.
Sadly for the people of Guyana, our leaders who were ecstatic on Tuesday when Obama became President, show no sign of wanting to walk in the direction of Mr. Obama. In several reflections of mine on this page, I remarked that it has to lacerate the collective psyche of the population that the leaders of the ruling party and the Government of Guyana can so extol the virtues of Barack Obama but yet practise the politics of unkindness, harshness, exclusion, discrimination, anachronism, incestuousness deceptiveness and hypocrisy that Barack Obama has dedicated his life to eradicating from the use of power in his presidency.
How can one admire the Mahatma and be a rapist? How can one adore Mandela and practise racial bigotry? How can one love Barack Obama but plan to hurt one’s own subjects and rule harshly over them?
No matter how supportive and loyal President Jagdeo’s followers are there is the evidence that he had the Obama potential and he carelessly threw it away. When Guyanese speak of Barack Obama, there is the slight hint somewhere at the back of your mind that Jagdeo could have done it.
No point in trying to make a comparison between the two. The sociological environments are vastly different. Jagdeo had no constituency when he came to power. Obama had several and they were powerfully ensconced in American society. But what Obama started out with, Jagdeo acquired along the way. He got the embrace of youth.
The PPP communities began to accept him as the PPP leader. The opposition played a wait-and-see game without initially pouncing on him. In assessing Jagdeo’s failure (and I honestly think he has failed as a President but there is a but), one must always remember to cite the famous statement of Eusi Kwayana.
Eusi Kwayana does not believe in treating rulers with kid gloves. He calls a spade a spade. When Jagdeo was assigned the presidency after President Janet Jagan’s health failed to immunise her from Macbeth’s witches constantly stoking “mo fyah/slo fyaah” at the behest of the PNC leadership under Mr. Hoyte, Kwayana openly called upon Guyanese to give Mr. Jagdeo a chance.
As soon as he came to power, I accepted a one-year consultancy with Information Minister, Moses Nagamootoo to democratise the state media although my Kaieteur News duties required me to cut the consultancy in half.
I saw first hand how the PPP was trying to dictate to the new President and how the new President was uncomfortable with his humiliation. It was clear that he wanted to be both the de facto and de jure governor. One felt sympathy for Jagdeo.
I did a few pieces, criticising the PPP leadership for trying to reduce him to a rubber stamp. Some Stabroek News editorials did the same.
Tragically and unfortunately for this troubled nation, I saw in Jagdeo a frightening trend. I didn’t see any willingness, while I worked for Moses Nagamootoo, on the part of Jagdeo to replace PPP culture with Obama-like culture. From as early as 1999 when he ascended the throne, Jagdeo showed the tendency of maximum leadership syndrome.
It took Rickey Singh sixteen years to see what I saw in one week. From 1999 onwards, I began to see the signs of a flawed leader. As the PPP tightened its noose around Mr. Jagdeo, he looked for his own power base but it was a power base that was 180 degrees different from Barack Obama.
For me, as an analyst, it was clear that Mr. Jagdeo was enamoured with power for power sake. I saw shades of Forbes Burnham and I wrote about those silhouettes since 1999. I was not wrong.
I do believe though that people can change. Mr. Jagdeo has two more years and in that space of time he can still find the Road to Damascus. Let’s see if he will start looking for it.

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