Guyanese must demand a national government now

Mar 02, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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You wonder how much President Jagdeo cares about his image or credibility or both (assuming that he has these motives after about 10 years in the presidency).  While the European parliamentarians are here, and while Guyana may be in its worst crisis since Independence in 1966, the President finds time to become unpresidential and publicly ridicule his critics. Nothing profoundly preoccupies Mr. Jagdeo so that he is engrossed in sensitive issues and could not be bothered with his cuss-down style. No matter how threatening is the situation, you can trust Mr. Jagdeo to descend to a level that a President should not go
These situations are becoming numerous. We had the case of the car taken away from Mr. Jagdeo’s common-law wife at a time when we thought she was the First Lady. There was an incident at the Providence Stadium during World Cup Cricket that resulted in one of his military aides refusing a request and was later disciplined. Guyanese are still talking about Ms. Varshnie Singh’s accusations against Mr. Jagdeo. In many CARICOM countries the imbroglio with Ms. Singh would have either led to the President’s resignation or opposition demands for such. Guyana is just slipping down the slope of a failed state. Imagine a Head of State knew that there wasn’t a First Lady, yet operated as if she was, and it was only the woman who informed the nation that she wasn’t.
To this day there isn’t even one line of apology from Mr. Jagdeo
At his Friday press conference to discuss the jeopardy that presently surrounds Guyana’s future, Mr. Jagdeo found time to say derogatory things about me. When asked about the reduction of aid from Canada which was reported in my column the day before, he flippantly chided the journalist for relying on me as a source of information. He went on to use some negative comments about me. We are in the midst of perhaps a catastrophe, which I will come to below, and while the President speaks to the media about it, he finds time to disparage Freddie Kissoon. It shows the nature of the leadership we have. What is Mr. Jagdeo’s problem with me? Is he becoming like the Government-sponsored discussion programme on the internet named GINA, operated by some PPP sycophants here and in New York, and the Guyana Chronicle – obsessed with whatever Frederick Kissoon writes?
What Guyanese will be told ad nauseum by the Government is that the financial mess of CLICO is intricately intertwined with the global crisis. What will be hidden is the political role played by the political elite in relation to helping CLICO in a way that is nasty and may be illegal. For this reason, all Guyanese need to demand to know the facts surrounding NBS’s valued assistance that came to CLICO. The opposition parties and the major stakeholders in this country have their best chance of demanding a national government, given the conspiracy which took place with the NBS’s purchase of CLICO’s investment in the Berbice Bridge.
Two weeks before NBS made its move, the governments in the CARICOM region knew that CLICO was in trouble because the T&T Government took possession of it. In the middle of this disaster, NBS bought CLICO some breathing space by offering it almost a billion dollars. Why? Before we answer that question, readers need to know that there is a strong overlapping between the NBS board and the political directorate. A powerful person or persons sought to compensate their associates or acolytes with investments in CLICO by forcing NBS to buy the Berbice Bridge stake of CLICO so money would be available to distribute to those who stood to lose by the collapse of CLICO.
Who are these people? The NBS, CLICO and the Office of the President must describe for the Guyanese people the movement of that NBS offer once it was received by CLICO. Whatever explanation the Guyana Government lays on the table about the quagmire CLICO is in, the NBS conspiracy makes the Guyana Government stand out as an anti-patriotic actor in the CLICO fiasco that is sweeping the CARICOM region. Powerful people moved to collect their money before CLICO drowned. These powerful people used the authority of the state to do that. The people of this country should never tolerate this.
Finally, disaster is ahead. Many pensions like UG’s are in CLICO, but most of all the NIS may be facing collapse. There must be a national government to deal with this unprecedented madness hovering over Guyana. The Guyanese people must demand that their Opposition parliamentarians forget about their nice seats in the House and take to the streets. This is Guyana’s worst crisis.

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