Assessing presidential performance in 2008

Jan 08, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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This article’s methodology rests on an incontrovertible fact and two conceptualizations of mine that I believe could be supported by evidence.

Factually, the Constitution gives certain powers to the President that cannot be contradicted by the courts, the Parliament and the party that promoted him into the presidency. Secondly, President Jagdeo micro-manages the affairs of government.

Two graphic pieces of evidence support this observation. I had to see the President in order to get permission to change the type of vehicle on my duty free letter. The then Minister of Finance advised me that I had to see the President himself.

Then I know what happened at UG; no need to go there again. In addition, we have had the spectacle that only when President Jagdeo returns from abroad could exigent decisions be implemented. On the third point, there is sufficient proof to support the contention that on many occasions the PPP’s nerve centre would have liked to see the reversal of decisions made by the President but Mr. Jagdeo did not concede.

This writer trusts implicitly his sources in the PPP’s inner circles that have informed him about this. It is therefore within this framework one could assess the successes if any in 2008 of Mr. Jagdeo. The balance sheet is not impressive. First, the post-modern Marriott Hotel died inside the Kingston sewage pipe. I dealt with that yesterday so let’s move on.

Electricity supply last year returned to the state it was in under the penniless regime of Burnham. The people who run GPL do not make macro-policy for the company. Energy policy rests with President Jagdeo. He did nothing in 2008 that has assured the people of this country that electricity disruption will not destroy their mental calmness in 2009. If there is anything that President Jagdeo failed on last year was power supply, which in a modern world means national development.

Thirdly, the physical infrastructure of Georgetown continued to deteriorate in 2008. Important roads and streets showed wearing that pointed to incompetent engineering or maybe the subtle hand of corruption was the cause. The National Park and the Botanic Gardens are disgraceful eyesores. Mr. Jagdeo’s India-supplied traffic lights collapsed last year. On the education level, the President sent out an SOS to UWI to save UG. It was a plea that came too late.

Just as the year was about to end, the circle of nemesis closed in on this President that has shown impatience with the difficulties involved in administering a troubled complex, poor country. The great floods of 2005 came back with a vengeance. Mr. Jagdeo’s response was hardly encouraging. He told the nation that floods are inevitable because of climate change. No one can argue against that. It is a perfect statement. But it has a second part. Countries that have been ravished by inundations like what we had in 2005, invent systems to lessen the severity.

This is a common response all over the world. As I write, many East Coast villages have been under water going into its second week. Is there no engineering feat that can be devised to take the water off? The answer is yes, but this is where the PPP’s incompetence comes in. As the final hours of 2008 crept into history, the Government announced a huge shake-up in GuySuCo’s management. Sugar failed badly in 2008 It is the start of a nightmare for Mr. Jagdeo that will further expose the absence of ingenuity and finesse in his leadership style.

Without a doubt his only success in 2008 was in the political realm. He secured the leadership of the police and army respectively that was in sync with his style and conceptualizations. In many institutions of state where their independence is written in law, Mr. Jagdeo was able to penetrate. For the prevention of libel, I would prefer not to name these places. Mr. Jagdeo got vital support from the main Opposition PNC that made his governorship less traumatic.

In fact, the last time he met Mr. Corbin was for talks on climate change. Mr. Corbin agreed to meet. But Mr. Corbin failed to get Mr. Jagdeo to change his mind on 99 percent of the decisions that the PNC did not agree with. We can say Mr. Jagdeo didn’t do too bad at all politically. Except for low-keyed marches by the PNC over the suspension of channel 6 and the AFC’s boycott of Parliament for one sitting only, there was no opposition furor.

It was expected that the Government’s deliberate refusal to continue the stakeholders’ dialogue after Lusignan and Bartica would have brought indignant impulses from the opposition, trade unions and civil society. It didn’t happen. In 2008, elected dictatorship won.

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