No amount of ‘spin’ can make the President appear any less autocratic

May 14, 2009 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Determined to drive up an obviously low scoring public assessment of the Jagdeo Administration, the Government’s de facto chief media spinner, Dr. Prem Misir, penned a missive – “Mervin’s misleading evaluation of the Jagdeo Administration,” (May 12) – that did precious little to sway my previously stated evaluation, even if it did something for others who are keeping tab on this Government.
But what appears to be characteristically funny in Dr. Misir’s missive is that, of all the pieces of evidence he had governmental access to in putting a positive spin on Government’s performance, he chose as his lead reference ‘achieving enhanced debt relief as one of the most commendable successes (of the Government)’.

While I cannot argue with success whenever it happens, I do have a huge problem with Government taking credit for simply adhering to IMF and WB initiated ‘new ideas and mechanisms’ designed for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) which, under traditional debt relief programmes, experienced difficulty servicing their debt payments in part because of poor economic growth rates.

What everyone needs to understand is this: regardless of party or President, as long as the party in Government or its President adhered to the requirements of the IMF and WB, the results would have been largely the same; so President Bharrat Jagdeo did not make any major difference by simply playing according to the rules of the IMF and WB’s game!

What would have been a game changer was if Guyana had experienced a significant surge in Foreign Direct Investments, particularly during the economic boom years after the previous meltdown of the late 90s, because FDIs would have created lots of jobs (perhaps demanding overseas Guyanese return with their skills and professional experience) and generated foreign income on a much greater scale, so that we would not have to continue relying heavily on loans and grants and boasting about debt relief. It’s time we moved past this phase that we are still stuck in!

In fact, for Dr. Misir’s information, there is an obvious division of opinion among Guyanese about Guyana’s economic performance under the Jagdeo Administration. One letter writer, Mr. Ian G. Hall, (“No reason to celebrate,” SN, May 12), in a pertinent break down of the IMFs’ 2008 report said, “Guyana’s average growth for the period 2001 through 2008 was 2.01%, compared to Honduras at 5.03%, Bolivia at 3.85%, Nicaragua at 3.26% and Haiti at 0.55%,” and that, “There is no reason to celebrate when as one of the five “Heavily Indebted” nations in the Western hemisphere Guyana is one above the bottom.” What is this, a bottom house party?

Second, in reference to my contention that President Jagdeo behaves like an ‘autocrat’, Dr. Misir needs to know in no uncertain terms that I lived in Guyana during the Forbes Burnham era of autocracy, that included his failed ‘co-operative socialism’ experiment, and so I know the early signs of an autocrat when they are displayed. So Dr. Misir is not making the President appear any less autocratic by reminding me of the ‘1970s and 1980s when free speech and free press were unheard of in the Guyanese vernacular’, but fails miserably when he argues that this is not the case in Guyana today.

If it weren’t for a vigilant and feisty free media, things could have easily reverted to the 70s and 80s.
For the record, President Jagdeo, on several occasions publicly took on the private media for doing their job in the face of no Freedom of Information Law, even shockingly labeling them the new political opposition.
He may be among the Caribbean’s first head of government and state to ban a private media operative (Gordon Moseley) from entering OP and State House simply because he disagreed with the reporter’s writings.

He completely ignored the government appointed Advisory Committee for Broadcasting and personally suspended CN Sharma’s (Channel 6) operations for repeatedly airing a caller’s remarks that threatened retaliation against the President in event any member of the caller’s relatives died at the hands of demented criminals.

He threatened to appeal the Chief Justice’s ruling in favour of Yearwood-Chapman versus the State in the issuance of radio licences to private persons, so that after 10 years in office, he still refuses to end Government monopoly of radio in Guyana. His Government-owned newspaper, radio and television outfits still do not carry views that oppose the ruling party and Government.
And after he constantly squabbled with SN for its fearless coverage of his government, his Government withdrew state advertising from that newspaper alone for almost a year. Need I go on?

For a person who lived in New York for many years, Dr. Misir should know better than to obfuscate the truth by wasting time making frivolous charges about ‘growing abuse of press freedom’ in Guyana, because unlike New York, where the media enjoy an FOI Law, there is no such law in Guyana, so the private media have to rely on ‘inside or anonymous sources’ to report stuff the Government does not want the public to know.
If there really is any abuse taking place it is the Jagdeo Government abusing its privilege of being paid to serve the public but denying the public the right to pertinent information.

So while I will let the PNCR speak for itself on any full page advertisement that nailed ‘Jagdeo as selfish and shameless’, let it be known that if the PNCR says so, then the public should pay attention because the PNCR once behaved in a selfish and shameless manner and knows what it is talking about.

Third, in Dr. Misir’s reference to the ‘Jagdeo Initiative on Agriculture (JIA) as another commendable mechanism to grow more food in the region let it be known that slogans and substance are worlds apart.
The Burnham-led PNC had a “Feed, Clothe and House Yourself by 1976” campaign, which never fully materialised because politics trumped commonsense business decisions, so the JIA is nothing new.
However, while it has to be seen as a revival of something worthy, looking around Guyana today, it is déjà vu all over again.

Finally, I agree with Dr. Misir that ‘we must evaluate the Guyana economy in terms of the external economic shocks over the years, the abysmal legacy the PNC bequeathed to the PPP/C, and the years it took for Guyana to reach financial viability’, but given Guyana’s natural resource base, and given that the PPP is almost two terms away from matching the PNC’s 28 years in power, I refuse to continue using the PNC’s failed legacy as a frame of reference for the PPP’s current disposition in power.

There has to be a new standard by which the PPP must measure its performance or else it risks matching the PNC failed step by failed step right up until year 28 (if it gets that far).
Dr. Misir can cite all the stats and data he wants, but the hard truth about Government performance is not how much noise the engine makes when the accelerator is floored, but is when the rubber hits the road – at the grass root level of the ordinary man – and the vehicle starts moving.
How many people are moving forward in the vehicle?

If I am not mistaken, in 2008, Government got 67% of its income from taxes, including the killer VAT; foreign remittances, despite a sharp drop, accounted for over 20% of the GNP, and if we can use the 2007 State Department’s estimate as a guide, then in 2008 the informal economy may well have accounted for over 50 percent of the formal economy.
Take away loans, grants, remittances and money laundering and watch what happens to Guyana!
Under the PPP and President Jagdeo, the road to success in Guyana will always be under construction – ever building and never finishing – and mediocrity will always be praised and rewarded!
Emile Mervin

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