After the show was over, the jumbies moved in

May 19, 2010 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

If I was to nominate someone for the Nobel Peace Prize, I would not be ashamed to put my name on the line for that person. It is a contradiction that is inexplicable. If you think a person is so great that he/she should be given one of the world’s most prestigious honours, then you should be proud to publicize your effort. I haven’t done the research but I don’t think there is a person or an organization in the history of the prize that has submitted a nomination and chose to make their association secret. This defies logic and imagination.
Guyana’s President Jagdeo has had his name forwarded to be on the list for consideration for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. Immediately controversy took over the situation that reminds one of a sordid political game that has been playing out in Guyana, where hundreds of bloggers and newspaper letter-writers shower extreme eulogies on President Jagdeo, but are either ashamed or scared to use their real names. In other words, Mr. Jagdeo is their hero but they are not willing to say so publicly. Can it be they are unwilling to face the criticism that they are fronting for a dictator? Back to the Peace Prize.
When the news hit the streets, the identity of David Dabydeen emerged. He then denied he sent the relevant papers to Sweden but pointed to a Trinidadian academic who advanced Mr. Jagdeo’s nomination. Dabydeen chose not to disclose the name of the nominator. From thereon, the issue died after a few persons decried the secrecy. As it stands, the Guyanese nation not only does not know who has put forward Mr. Jagdeo, but the nominator is or group of nominators are not willing to go public. The question is why?
It is a bizarre situation that has overtones of absurdities. Now with a UN award for Mr. Jagdeo for environmental protection, the mystery of the nominator(s) has become not only macabre but comical. Why does a group of persons think Mr. Jagdeo should go down in history as the only Guyanese to be bestowed with the Nobel Peace Prize but are unwilling to have their name publicly associated with their hero? Is there a parallel situation in the past anywhere else in the world? I doubt it. Let us see if this theatre of comedy will come to an end now that the Government put on a glowing display in recognition of Mr. Jagdeo’s Champion of the Earth prize given by the UN’s Environmental Agency.
So last week at the Convention Centre, the invitations were sent out to thousands. A big circus was on parade and in the middle was the Champion of the Earth. After the show was over, the jumbies moved in. The ghosts took over the very next day. The nameless signature appeared in the Chronicle, Guyana Times, and Mirror. The outpouring was tremendous. “He is a hero.” He is our hero.” He is a giant.” “He stands tall among great men.” “He put Guyana on the map.” And at the bottom of all those letters are phantom signatures. Surely, this has got to be an insult to Mr. Jagdeo. One is clueless as to why Mr. Jagdeo tolerates it, because he ought to know it damages his image, assuming he has one.
Take a blog station run by the press section of the Office of the President and administered by the son of one of Guyana’s ambassadors. It has the identical name to that of the Government’s agency, GINA. After the President got the UN award, the fanatical praise was mountainous. And it was pure comedy. One blogger observed that he knew Mr. Jagdeo was always destined for Caribbean greatness and as someone who worked with Mr. Jagdeo for the last ten years, he could have predicted that Mr. Jagdeo would have eclipsed all other Caribbean leaders from the fifties onwards. And guess what name he blogs under? “Streetsmart.
Now “Streetsmart” may be an asinine person but he has elements of smartness about him. “Streetsmart” is smart. He is not going to identify publicly with the President he works for because he is smart enough to know that his President is unpopular so if he is forced to resign or when he leaves office, there cannot be any taunt and his family will not be ridiculed. A lot of these bloggers on GINA are afraid to publicly identify with Mr. Jagdeo because I suspect they are afraid of the criticism they will face.

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