Jagdeoite hegemony: An explanation

Jul 23, 2008 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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David Jessop, who analyzes Caribbean economic affairs and the role of the Caribbean in the world economy, has departed from his usual tranquil style and has penned a devastatingly pessimistic article last week in which he sees the coming disintegration of the Anglo-phone Caribbean.  Anyone familiar with contemporary Guyanese political history can see the same for Guyana.

We have been on this road before — economic stagnation, followed by political autocracy, social decay, mass migration, Caribbean ostracisation of fleeing Guyanese, difficulty in securing Western visas, incomes that cannot buy anything, collapse of electricity supply, rotting physical infrastructure and their eventual collapse.

Those who support the Government of Guyana may be quite honest in their rejection of this scenario when they argue that such a tragedy as we had in the past is avoidable because there isn’t a government that rigs elections.

These people may genuinely believe that the difference with the Burnham regime and the Jagdeo presidency is that Mr. Jagdeo is a legitimate holder of power, thus electoral democracy cannot bring social chaos.

Those theorists who have invented the concept of elected dictatorship or illiberal democracy (check on Amazon.com for the publications of Fareed Zakaria) have shown in quite simple terms that the existence of free and fair elections does not translate all the time into the smooth functioning of liberal democracy. No case-study in this typology is stronger than Guyana.

I would put Guyana above Venezuela and Russia, because ethnic voting patterns make Guyana into the worse-case scenario.

If there are nationalistic Guyanese out there who have a real desire to see the PPP Government do good, then the sooner they come to the realization that a freely elected administration can descend into wanton display of political recklessness, the quicker they may be able to save Guyana from becoming a failed state. I must admit I suspect we are close to that stigma.

Those who cannot believe that popular governments can lose their way and become politically and morally corrupt do not have to look far in history.

Mrs. Benazir Bhutto was as loved and admired by her fellow citizens as any other venerated leader in history. They voted her in as the first woman in a frenetically practicing Islamic country.

Mrs. Bhutto remains today the most corrupt head of government the East has ever produced. The Head of State, the President, removed her from power. Only exile saved her from imprisonment.

There is nothing, I repeat, nothing in political philosophy that could give someone any facts to fight with in claiming that elected officials cannot become dictators.

Unfortunately, the lessons of the Burnham years have not been internalised by this troubled nation. I would contend that there are increasing shades of Burnhamism in the Jagdeo presidency.

The shadows of dictatorship are lengthening across the landscape. I am always asked why some people in the PPP have allowed this aimless drift into authoritarianism.

They tell me that it is inconceivable that the PPP could allow its image to be so tarnished. What is the explanation for this, they would inquire.

It is outside the scope of a short newspaper column to expand on why there is a reversion to the crude days of the Burnham epoch.

Many factors are at work, some of which hold more relevance than others. For the purpose of this essay, I would cite the demise of the Jaganite PPP.

Let me make it quite clear that, in my conceptualization, I do not think this explanation has more efficacy than a particular variable which space will not allow me to elongate on. For now, let us look at the PPP after Jagan’s death.

When Walter Rodney died, the WPA continued but it limped along. For all intents and purposes, the physiology of the WPA died when Rodney was murdered.

He was a phenomenal personality, whose presence inspired his colleagues around him. It is the same with Cheddi Jagan. When he passed away, the life and spirit went out of the PPP.

Janet Jagan was not Cheddi Jagan. Cheddi Jagan was the PPP, and the PPP was Cheddi Jagan. Unable to rule Guyana without Cheddi Jagan, his protégés became psychologically jaded.

They are spiritually broken people who have given up on both political activism and running a country. Mr. Jagdeo was phenomenally and prodigiously lucky. He acquired power when the PPP was without a leader and was aimlessly drifting.

What he did was to ensure the PPP’s economic survival, but he took control of the Government of Guyana and locked the PPP out of his mind.

Mr. Jagdeo sees himself as the President of Guyana, and not a person who implements the policies of a political party. There is no party to check the excesses of the President.

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