Does Mr. Jagdeo know what will happen if he wins the Nobel Peace Prize?

Dec 06, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Dr. David Dabydeen has denied that he nominated Bharrat Jagdeo for the Nobel Peace Prize, but should someone actually do it, would he/she be aware of what the international media will do to Mr. Jagdeo and Guyana should the Guyanese President win the honour?
The core of international society does not know who Mr. Jagdeo is and where Guyana is. As soon as he gets the Nobel, all, I repeat, all the powerful media houses in the entire world will begin research on Jagdeo. They will want to know who this guy is. As soon as they find out that he is President of a country, Mr. Jagdeo’s rule will be put under intense scrutiny.
For starters, the London tabloids are going to literally crucify the Guyanese President. They will interview Varshnie Singh and run her accusations against Mr. Jagdeo. Any person in this world familiar with the London tabloids would know how they delight in ridiculing Third World leaders.
One may very well see a headline like this; “Third World dictator who mistreats wife wins Nobel Peace Prize.” No doubt many media houses, particularly CNN and BBC, will send down a few reporters to Georgetown. What the opposition and civil society leaders have to say about Mr. Jagdeo will definitely hurt him before he goes to Scandinavia to collect his prize.
The question that must be asked is this; if the mountain of information on bad governance that currently exists on Mr. Jagdeo reaches Norway, would the Committee withdraw the award from Mr. Jagdeo? If you go through the list of Peace Laureates, a few are questionable but understandable like when Middle East leaders from Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Liberation Organization got it.
The South African leader, De Klerk along with Nelson Mandela got it. Also Henry Kissinger and the President of North Vietnam. These were exceptional circumstances in the evolution of world peace. Outside of these international scenarios, the Nobel Peace Prize has gone to exceptional human beings who have fought for freedom and justice on a large scale.
The list includes political and social activists whose integrity reverberated around the globe. Outstanding human rights crusaders who valiantly fought for the rights of human beings against the brutalities of dictatorship have been recipients.
Go through the list from the 1920s right up to the present time and see who the holders of this valued honour were/are. Does Mr. Jagdeo fit the bill? What would the Nobel Prize Committee think when it is reported on Mr. Jagdeo’s style as President of Guyana?
He uses unbecoming language quite often at his press conferences. He presides over a government that refuses to have a Freedom of Information Act. He refuses to allow his country to have more than one radio station.
What the nominator needs to know is that even before the world’s leading media houses move in on Mr. Jagdeo when he wins, the Nobel Committee would have had research material on Mr. Jagdeo that will cause him not to be short-listed.
Of course, there is an e-mail address for the Committee and no doubt hundreds of Guyanese will send down information on Mr. Jagdeo. I can see Rickford Burke, Mark Benschop and countless others mailing the dossier on crime to Norway. I can see the opposition documenting racism under Mr. Jagdeo’s presidency. I can see the evidence in the Simels trial being presented to the judges. By the time the judges reach the first ten pages, Mr. Jagdeo’s nomination would have been lost forever.
The simple fact is that outside of those names mentioned during the time of peace negotiations in the Middle East, the abolition of apartheid in South Africa and the end of the Vietnam War, the recipients of the Nobel Prize were phenomenal persons. If nominees are serving Presidents or Prime Ministers, they must have an unblemished, impeccable record of democratic achievements and a brilliant balance-sheet of human rights accomplishments.
Sad to say, but with these high standards, Mr. Jagdeo does not stand even the slimmest of chances when you examine his balance sheet. Mr. Jagdeo is a predictable leader though I doubt his big fans know this. Instead of being on his best behaviour until next August when the judges make their decision, we can anticipate what will be said about this article and its writer at the next presidential press conference and the language will not be elegant.
Come to think of it; I have a lot of information to give to the judges. After my submissions, I will ask them if this is the way a President conducts his press conferences.

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Does Mr. Jagdeo know what will happen if he wins the Nobel Peace Prize?

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