Whom did Mr. Golding have in mind?

Oct 13, 2008 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Since I identified President Bharrat Jagdeo as the person the Jamaican Prime Minister had in mind when he chastised some Caricom leaders for begging all the time in the international arena, I have read where it is said that Mr. Golding didn’t name names, so one should not think it was Mr. Jagdeo that the Jamaican PM had in mind.
Also Mr. Jagdeo told his press conference, on Wednesday, that he has an excellent relationship with Mr. Golding. In my column, I never wrote that I have proof as to which leader Mr. Golding referred to. I simply stated that, in my opinion, he was alluding to Mr. Jagdeo.
When we arrive at opinions, we can do so by two means: one is irrational, the other by logical deduction. The latter comes close to scientific reasoning, though a hundred percent accuracy may not be achieved. The former is not motive-based. In the former, a person just opens his/her mouth and voices an opinion. In the latter, the person will attempt to explain why he/she arrived at such judgement. I will now offer my reason why I believe that Mr. Golding had Mr. Jagdeo in mind, and no other Caricom Head.
We can start with Trinidad. There is no need to discuss Trinidad. Mr. Golding could not have pointed to Barbados, because, again, this is not a country known for a very hectic pace of borrowing from the international community and was never part of the incessant lobbying for debt rescheduling.
It means that Mr. Golding had the OECS states, Guyana, Belize and Haiti in mind. If you take Guyana from under the periscope of Mr. Golding, logical deduction falls by the wayside. Mr. Jagdeo, by the way he answered the question about his relationship with Mr. Golding at his Wednesday press conference, certainly implied, though he did not so state, that it could not have been him to whom the Jamaican Prime Minister alluded.
Who, then, was Mr. Golding targeting? Why Belize? What has Belize done, in comparison to Guyana, in the borrowing markets to cause Mr. Golding to be angry? Let us say that he had Belize in sight then, since he referred to more than one country in Caricom; if Belize is included, then Guyana has to be one of the states named.
Let us leave out Haiti. Haiti is very poor, and no country on Planet Earth would castigate Haiti for seeking help. We come to the point where Mr. Golding may have been referring to the OECS states. Again, conceptual problems will beset us. Why the OECS and not Guyana?
We now enter the realm of logical deduction. There is more reason to cite Guyana as the territory Mr. Golding had in mind than the small islands, and here they are. First, in the Caricom family, Guyana is the largest borrower from international lending agencies. Secondly, Guyana is at the moment in a hot controversy with its Caricom partners over the signing of the EPA. The Barbadian and Jamaican Prime Ministers made negative references to Guyana when the Heads met to decide on a renegotiation of the pact.
Here is what the Bajan PM said: “Persons who previously supported certain scenarios that we would have pushed for are now pretending that they know nothing about it and are acting as if they are the biggest advocates for us not signing.”
President Jagdeo’s underlings can deny that it was him those words were intended for. Then the Jamaican PM waded into Mr. Jagdeo by casting aside Mr. Jagdeo’s suggestion of a “goods only” agreement. He told the media that if Caricom signs on to a “goods only” accord then the EU would want to extract concessions from that new approach.
Thirdly, while Guyana was asking CARICOM not to sign, and while the Guyanese President insisted that CARICOM lobby the ACP meeting, Mr. Jagdeo could not have addressed that gathering, because he was in China seeking loans.
Fourthly, after the Heads agreed that they would sign, Mr. Jagdeo returned to Guyana, where he broadsided some of his CARICOM partners, accusing them of hurrying to sign the EPA but being slow to act on many CARICOM decisions.
We come to the seminal question. Against this backdrop that has been described, why would Mr. Golding seek to lambaste the OESC states and Belize, and not include Guyana when he had more reasons to cuss out Guyana?
If there are people in the Government that are saying Mr. Golding did not have Guyana in mind, then they should tell us who were the particular countries then. Mr. Golding meant Guyana. Guyanese need to know how much we have borrowed since Mr. Jagdeo became President.

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