Low carbon, low life, low stereo, low everything

Jul 26, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Guyanese have a fantastic sense of humour. If President Bush had made one percent of the ocean of mistakes that the Guyanese President have incurred, the stand-up comedians in the US would have material to last them a lifetime.
Imagine if President Bush had initiated a concept called low carbon development, and knowing how unpopular he was, what the comedy circuit would have done with him with the central attraction being the word, “low…”
Guyanese refer to people without ambition as being low life. That word actually has a rib-tickling story behind it in terms of women’s fashion. I will stay away from any further discussion but will leave you with a question. Do you know what in local lingo is meant when the boyz in the hood say; “de woman playing she stereo low?”
So “low” is in the headlines. Mr. Jagdeo has popularized the word because he is running out of time to acquire a legacy. Ask me and I will tell you that I believe the election campaign is on. Mr. Jagdeo hasn’t got much time. He has chosen to end his career by seeking to acquire an international reputation on climate change.

His low carbon strategy is supposed to catapult Guyana into a financial windfall. Of course one has to feel sorry for Mr. Jagdeo. The Kingston hotel is cocooned in a mirage. Oil isn’t soon to appear on the horizon. Bauxite is a shaky ship. Sugar is in the same bauxite boat. So these high-keyed ventures became very low and transferred Mr. Jagdeo’s overdrive into a low gear.
The trouble with low carbon is that it depends on high expectations in December in Denmark where the tide is normally low that time of the year in Scandinavia.
In Denmark, the global community will meet to decide where to go after the Kyoto Protocol. If it agrees to help countries that save their forest by giving them money, Mr. Jagdeo hopes to cash in.
But examining the mood of the international financial system, it is doubtful that the high expectations of Mr. Jagdeo will be met. There is a strong possibility that Mr. Jagdeo will come away from Denmark in low spirits in December
However let us look at the politics of low carbon from the angle of low governance. Why should this nation believe what Mr. Jagdeo and his Government tell us about accountability and transparency in relation to the operations of the low carbon development strategy when lowness in every aspect of governance has been the trademark of Mr. Jagdeo’s presidency.

This is what is so exasperating about the regime of President Jagdeo. There has been no attempt since he came to power in 1999 to move away from low tolerance, low efficiency, low transparency, low accountability, low showmanship, low rebuttals, low moves. In other words, low governance.
This is a President that resorts to low attacks on his critics calling some of them ugly, ignorant of the laws on taxation, sleaze balls among other derogations. This is a President whose Government had to backdate the laws so as to make legal, an illegal act his regime had performed in relation to Queens Atlantic.
To date, there isn’t even a whisper of an apology to Dr. Yesu Persaud who was on the receiving end of a presidential rant. This is a President that vehemently, adamantly, and barefacedly refused to go on a high note and reveal to the nation who was the investor in the proposed Marriott Hotel. To date, he is still low on that information. This is a President that is in a low mood in observance of what the laws require of him.
He refuses to transfer the Lotto money into the Consolidated Fund even though that is the law that Mr. Jagdeo hasn’t got the constitutional authority to change. There is still the low act of prolonging the life of the Ethnic Relations Commission when the Constitution is evanescently clear – it requires two-thirds vote in Parliament.

This is a President whose regime is still low on transparency because there is still no procurement commission. The Auditor General’s Report is full of low moves on how the Ministry of Health ordered drugs and on low moves in relation to how Mr. Jagdeo’s Government spends the nation’s resources.
The low moods continue because there is no Ombudsman, no Public Service Appellate Tribunal, no Human Rights Commission, no Freedom of Information Act. What a low act to take that money away from Critchlow Labour College.
How Freudian are the thoughts of Mr. Jagdeo. He chose to use a curious word “low” in his strategy to acquire his elusive legacy. Funny eh!

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