Don’t hide behind the President

May 13, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
President Jagdeo’s arrogance knows no bounds. Witness his peevish, immature outburst to the Economic Freedom Report prepared by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal.
Without offering a single shred of evidence to contradict anything stated in the report Mr. Jagdeo lashes out wildly at his critics, like Lear in the storm. Here is a man clearly at the end of his tether, never mind his tenure, with absolutely nothing to lose.
In response to questions on corruption, Mr. Jagdeo comes up with his standard line, which loosely translated reads “Yeah? Show me the evidence.”
Well, this is ludicrous. Mr. Jagdeo has been repeatedly presented with facts and figures of Government corruption and he has done nothing except to wait for enough time to elapse before he can raise his head out of the sand to ask the question again.
Well, as a famous critic of the government would say, every schoolboy can recite in his sleep the names of the various scams stretching back to the last millennium. Let’s see – the stone scam, the milk scam, the dolphin scam, the polar beer scam, the law book scam, the duty-free remigrant scam, the CLICO scam, the Queens Atlantic scam. How much more do you need, Mr. President? The latest one coming down the pipeline does not yet have a nice one word zinger to christen it with, but perhaps we can just call it the Lumumba scam, part 2.
And coming sharply on its heels could be the mother of all scams, the one that could finish us as a nation faster than one could say “Third term”.
This has a name already – the Amaila Falls scam. But what could be more damning than the report from within the government’s ranks itself – the AG’s report on the Lotto funds?
Of course, none of this will evoke a lift of an eyebrow from Mr. Jagdeo.
In cowardly fashion, he will continue to evade his real critics while playing to the rum-shop crowd. It is quite clear from his outburst that Mr. Jagdeo has long slipped from the realm of civilized and reasoned discourse and has passed into the hallowed land of the untouchable – the Great Leader who has fed on his own meat.
Further, Mr. Jagdeo has the audacity to state that potential investors will not pay attention to such reports. Well Mr. Jagdeo, that can only play to the most gullible and ignorant of your supporters.
The Wall Street Journal is the bible for the business community and any reputable investor will turn to its report before they sink a penny in this country. Not only that. They will pay careful attention to the intemperate remarks of the country’s leader and his inability to handle criticism in a constructive manner.
But it is not Mr. Jagdeo’s response that is of interest. And certainly not one of his paid defenders and propagandists who like the president, can offer not one iota of proof to contradict anything in the report.
No, nor the comatose opposition, the supine business community and the invisible civil society. No, what we, the long-suffering populace would like to hear from are the presidential hopefuls, from the PPP itself. What are their views on the report, and more importantly, their opinions on Mr. Jagdeo’s vitriol? Are their views in accordance with his? Can we expect more of this from them? It is no time for them to be cowardly and peep about Jagdeo’s legs.
Their silence speaks volumes for their courage, not to mention their political convictions. God help us all, if by their silence they mean approval.
It appears then our only salvation is for a third term.
Harold Latchana

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