When is the national election?

Sep 15, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Take a look at Clement Rohee’s use of the letter pages of the two independent dailies. Take a look at the fury unleashed by the President on GECOM’s Chairman. Take a look at the fictitious poll by Vishnu Bisram which finds that citizens favour Mr. Jagdeo for a third term. Do they add up? What do they mean?
There are more indications, but these are huge signs of an upcoming general election. They point to tensions and anxieties that lead in the direction of an election next year. I was asked by some visiting media officials why would Mr. Jagdeo want an early poll. Here are my explanations.
Mr. Jagdeo will be assigned the presidential slot for his party. This will be done as soon as the local government elections are called early next year. The reason for the lambasting of GECOM is to terrorize them so they will walk millions of extra miles to pull off the local government elections. In that poll, on the ballot will be a referendum to change the Constitution to remove term-limits for presidents. Important to note is the unconditional removal of term limits. In other words there will be no more restrictions.
This is a more credible route to take than the way of a motion in Parliament. The latter is fraught with danger. That danger is the fear that the ABC countries will not accept it as legal (of course the opposition parties will go to them and demand their intervention).
If Mr. Jagdeo is elected through constitutional skullduggery, the ABC countries will not recognize his legitimacy. The situation becomes easier for Mr. Jagdeo if he can prove in a referendum that the citizens voted to remove presidential term-limits. There will be conflagrations over the referendum but the national elections will be held months after the local government operation. Why the rush? I will come to that but let us discuss the PPP first.
Mr. Jagdeo’s endorsement of the PPP’s candidate is a 100 percent assured. Mr. Jagdeo has become the second monarch of the PPP after Mrs. Jagan. There is no confusion in this statement. There is enough evidence to support the contention that Mrs. Jagan was always the person to determine things in the PPP in the final analysis. She was the behind-the-scenes figure that virtually made her the shaper of the PPP’s biology.
There are many pieces of evidence to validate this assumption. Not since the days of the Jagans has a figure emerged in convincing and towering fashion in the PPP than Bharrat Jagdeo. Mr. Jagdeo controls and dominates the PPP with not one solitary voice in opposition to him. Even the rebellious tone of Nagamootoo, Mr. Jagdeo was able to smother with masterly effectiveness.
Mr. Jagdeo loves power, knows that he is the PPP and the PPP is him, and armed with the knowledge that racial voting will give him permanency in New Garden Street, Mr. Jagdeo wants to abolish term-limits so he can last a long, long time. Why the rush then to have national elections the middle of next year? The answer is extremely simple.
Mr. Jagdeo is not a learned man, an innovative thinker, a competent politician, a visionary leader. Mr. Jagdeo’s track record is one of abysmal failure on all fronts of state performance. Guyana’s little development is due to the perseverance of the private sector
The longer the election takes to come off, the greater the chances of voter disenchantment and potential for opposition outburst. Also there is the worrying guess of what the Americans might do with the Khan confession statement. An early election favours Mr. Jagdeo in every way. First the economy is in deep trouble. Mr. Jagdeo’s hope of money from the LCDS will wash away as when the tides devour a sand castle on the beach. Sugar is going to fail Mr. Jagdeo in 2010. Electricity degeneration will deepen.
Water supply will not do any better. Secondly, such a scenario favours the opposition because it gives them more leverage to tap into the frustration of the Indian constituencies. Thirdly, the larger the rut, the possibility is that someone inside the PPP may say that the PPP cannot win with Jagdeo so let us look for an Obama.
Finally, once in power, he can bargain to stay as on as President in the event of opposition confrontations, because he can use the argument that he was just given a legal mandate and therefore in any inclusive governance measures, he should be the one with more bargaining chips because he is a popularly elected President. Shakespearian darkness awaits this nation.

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