The unfolding of 2010

Jan 19, 2010 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

This is not a country of surprises given all that has happened since Dr. Cheddi Jagan returned to power in 1992. Perhaps the biggest surprise since the sixties was President Jagan’s speech at his party congress in Port Mourant the next year, 1993, when he told the delegates he was still a Marxist-Leninist.
You would have thought that after six decades, Dr. Jagan would have learnt a few things about life.
He and his wife, individually, spent sixty years in politics and I doubt whether they cared to learn the lessons of life. Few people in this country read the Mirror newspaper. Had they, then they would have seen some amazing articles by Mrs. Jagan months before she died. One of these stated that Guyana’s medical services were superior to the US’s because Guyana offered free medicine to its citizens.
Another column of hers was contemptuous of American democracy. Over the sixty years of PPP’s existence nothing this party does should surprise Guyanese wherever they live.
Perhaps Guyana produced the most bizarre moment in modern politics anywhere in the world in 2003 when the government of the day, unable to control violence emanating from a small (certainly not large) village named Buxton, sought the strategic assistance from a deadly, violent drug trafficker.
In exchange for his help the Government literally created space for him to operate his business. In the process, over two hundred persons lost their lives. Could the PPP do anything worse than this that would galvanize your curiosity?
So, will there be any surprises this year? There shouldn’t be. The one that is likely to be talked about is the third term confrontation. I suspect many Guyanese do not anticipate its unveiling and when (I didn’t say if but when) it does, they may be alarmed because they think that Mr. Ramotar has settled the issue once and for all. He hasn’t.
The politics of 2010 will revolve around the third- term battles inside the PPP. Efforts at securing Mr. Jagdeo’s nomination as the PPP’s candidate are well thought out and are in motion. The waiting period has to do with the timing.
I have consistently argued on this page that the birth of the Guyana Times was the essential manifestation of the third-term dream. In economic and financial terms, the birth of the Guyana Times made absolutely no sense. Newspapers do not have a strong market in Guyana.
Even a third independent paper will not survive because it will have to spend a stupendous amount of cash to outdo the Kaieteur News and the Stabroek News. Its owners will have to subsidise it by millions and millions each year. Even the well-established Stabroek News has its financial setbacks.
The Stabroek News cannot afford to match the salaries of its competitors not because of policy but because of financial realities.
The simple truth is that the Guyana Times does not sell. This is a paper printed by state-of-the art press in which every page is in colour. Even with state advertisements, it has to be subsidised because it does not sell many copies.
A year after this venture, the owners bought VCT 28 at a terrific cost. Again this was part of the planning of the third-term. The people behind the third-term are deadly serious. We are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars on these two media houses. What for? The market does not make for handsome profits. The reason is the third-term.
I have persisted with the point that Mr. Jagdeo knows what he is doing in terms of the third-term arrangements. First, Mr. Jagdeo knows he has the required votes in the party to secure the nomination. Secondly, he is counting on the referendum. There was an opening up to the PNC before the onslaught against Mr. Corbin by Team Alexander then the gang of two – Murray and Van West-Charles.
The Parliamentary amendment to the Constitution is therefore no longer on. It will have to be done by referendum. What happens after Mr. Jagdeo secures the PPP’s nomination is anyone’s guess.
The majority of stakeholders may not accept it. These stakeholders may coalesce and form one huge grand coalition and oppose the national elections if Mr. Jagdeo wins the referendum. We don’t know what the security forces may do. But what is assured is that the PPP will select Mr. Jagdeo as their man to head the election list.
The purpose of this column is to warn you not to be surprised when this happens. This year will be a fascinating period for the playing out of political games.

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