The misfortune of being represented by such leaders

Dec 15, 2008 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I thought of my country right away when I read what the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, said on December 8 on the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Here is a statement that is poignantly relevant to the leadership of Guyana that when general elections come in 2011, would have had been in power for nineteen years.
Speaking of Iran, Mr. Sarkozy asserted; “How is it that a people such as the Iranians – one of the world’s greatest peoples, one of the world’s oldest civilization, sophisticated, cultured, open – have the misfortune of being represented as they are today by some of their leaders?”
I once met a diplomat who served with one of the High Commissions here, and she told me almost the same thing about Guyana in the Caribbean context. She was not serving in Guyana during the long years of struggle for human rights and fair elections but had a long familiarity with the Caribbean.
Judging Guyana from what she saw in the larger Caricom territories, after a funeral service, we spoke and she told me that Guyana did not deserve the type of leaders we have with the Jagdeo Government.
One can transport President Sarkozy’s observation to this country where it should sound like this; “How is it that a people like the Guyanese that had such a gifted country that was stronger in its economy than Malaysia; a talented people that filed the halls of education in many, many countries; a nice, friendly, buoyant nation that outranked the rest of the Caribbean in so many human endeavours; a rebellious people that fought long and hard for its freedom, could end up being represented by such mediocre, embarrassing leaders.”
All around this territory, Guyanese are fed up and frustrated with the President’s coterie and the PPP mandarins. It takes in both Berbice and Essequibo. The residents there voted for the PPP in every election since 1992, including the 1992 poll, but it begins and ends there.
They nurture no particular fondness for the politicians they voted for. It makes for fascinating statistical reading if you look at the voting at the last PPP congress. President Jagdeo, in charge of the nation’s affairs since 1999, lost about 150 votes. Mrs. Jagan lost more.
A newcomer like Dr. Frank Anthony without any enduring record of achievement beat all the other major leaders.
What does that voting pattern tell you about those who have governed Guyana since 1992? And to underscore the hardened incestuous syndrome in Freedom House, after the congress, these same unpopular monarchs met at Freedom House and scratched each other’s back by voting themselves into the Executive Committee; the unit that runs the party.
It may sound like a joke but even Myanmar that has been a military dictatorship for so long may end up having a Barack Obama rather than Guyana. Which government in the world owns a daily newspaper and its sycophants fill the newspaper’s letter pages with raging support for their government but are ashamed to sign their real names.
I don’t see this in any other Caribbean newspaper. The depth of revulsion will no doubt increase rapidly as we approach another natural disaster.
There can be no denying that citizens litter crucial waterways that cause flooding in rainy seasons. But there is absolutely no excuse the Guyana Government can cite for what happened last week. This was a tragedy that the aggrieved citizens of Demerara did not deserve.
The City Council does not have the money to stop flooding in the city. It did not have it in the past, and it will not have it in the future because of the nature of central–local government relationship. Government at the centre will not permit the Georgetown City Council to raise money on its own. Two reasons can be cited for this. One is that it will allow opposition parties to look good further denting the impossible chance of the PPP winning municipal polls in the city.
Secondly, it is not in the nature of Guyanese politics for there to be cooperation between political adversaries.
Whether we like it or not, the face of Georgetown will be continuously lacerated until the Georgetown City Council becomes an autonomous government. In the absence of that, floods will continue to ravish the capital. It is sad and tragic but it is the truth. The gutters, trenches, alleys and water ways in the city were not cleaned in ages. They will not be cleaned in May-June 2009 because money is not there at City Hall. And water will overrun the houses of thousands of dwellers.
Up the East Coast, they can expect the same.

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