Are PPP leaders, like many Guyanese, having buyers’ remorse over the President?

Jul 03, 2010 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Wednesday’s Kaieteur News 30-06-10) story, “World Bank not interested in tit-for-tat with Guyana Government,” is a picture in contrast of opinion pieces and letters written not too long ago by government spinners citing the World Bank (WB) as their source praising the President’s handling of the economy via foreign debt repayments and forgiveness or write-offs, and now the WB is at the receiving end of the government’s wrath.
What did the WB do so terribly wrong in such a short space of time? Why would Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud question the modus operandi of the WB viz a viz funding for Guyana’s climate change efforts?
Why would Finance Minister Ashni Singh complain that the WB’s expansion of its local office was taking precedence over its obligation to servicing the needs of a WB member – Guyana? What kind of message is this brouhaha sending to the rest of the international financial community and donor governments? Is it possible the Jagdeo Administration is coming apart at the seams?
As I ponder those questions, the next question that springs to mind is: Is there anyone in the PPP leadership who is actually experiencing ‘buyer’s remorse’ given that they backed Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo for the presidency in the initial proposed arrangement1997, which was fulfilled in 1999? One follow-up is: Is there anyone in the PPP leadership who actually thinks it is not too late for a ‘crisis intervention’ in the Jagdeo Administration in the best interests of the nation?
Mr. Editor, most Guyanese, (including me), were open-minded to the Jagdeo presidency in 1999 as we were to the Cheddi Jagan presidency in 1992. Most of us, however, did not know what to expect from either man, even though we may have been willing to give Jagan as much space to get a real grasp of what he inherited and then fine tune his plans to meet the daunting challenges and execute the desired changes.
He died suddenly without achieving his goals or without leaving behind a major plan of action for accelerated development, and so this Herculean task fell to President Jagdeo, who struggled with debt repayments and write-offs and eventually came up with an economic development plan he dubbed the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).
This development strategy would require financing from rich donor nations and international financial institutions based on the President’s claim that Guyana is a major player in the global fight to reverse climate change. Unfortunately, it is yet to dawn on the President that Guyana is not high up on the list of nations earmarked for emergency or massive funding. As a Soviet-educated economist who watched the Soviet Union’s economy collapsed, he had to know he cannot develop an economy based on propaganda. The deliberately hidden facts will eventually emerge.
Just as no man builds a house without a plan and estimated costs, or no army boss goes to war without carefully weighing the risks and the rewards, no president unwisely comes up with a so-called economic plan without first securing, or at least assuring, the financing.
This government badly miscalculated and then to deflect attention from its failure to deliver, it wants to put the spotlight on the WB for being tardy in doling out of funds to Guyana under climate change, and embarrass the WB for simply saying it never received plans from the government about the Amaila Falls project.
This project has been the subject of much public scrutiny and criticism, and unless the Chinese decide to come through with a surprise financing package, this Guyana Government – World Bank brouhaha could be sending a bad message to other financial institutions.
This strange behaviour by the Jagdeo Administration towards the WB, meanwhile, smacks of utter desperation for money at a time when the government’s handling of public finances is being seriously questioned at home and abroad. And after assessing the President’s mediocre economic management performance during the last 11 years, and the PPP’s overall disconnected role since 1992, I would have to say both the President and the PPP share the bulk of the blame for what we are witnessing.
The President has to take blame for being an arrogant know-it-all who probably felt that his LCDS would take off so he could have scored a major hit at home and abroad, but now that his LCDS has experienced a failure to launch he has his political acolytes mouthing off against the WB.
Strangely, though, none of them is mouthing off against Norway for making a deal only to alter it over time? I wonder why!
The PPP also has to take blame because it picked President Jagdeo for the job without carefully assessing the actual needs of the nation and coming up with a comprehensive plan of action to work with before settling on an accountable person to execute the plan of action.
In short, the PPP placed greater emphasis on a political personality than on practical plans for managing the economy, and it is the same thing we have been seeing of late with all sorts of names being thrown around as PPP presidential candidates and still no comprehensive economic plan.
How could the PPP pick a presidential candidate but the candidate is not accountable to the party? It is now a known secret that the President and the PPP are living on two separate political planets right now, and if there is anyone in the PPP who is eyeing the presidency in 2011, they’d better wake up and smell the coffee that President Jagdeo will either go for a third term or take control of the PPP and at least ensure whoever is the party’s candidate is under his direct control.
With mere months left in his lame duck tenure, why are the President’s media spinners and letter writers so busily engaged in promoting the President’s ‘successes’ and defending against myriad justified criticisms? Why would the government go out and hire Dr. Randy Persaud just to write letters defending the President’s remarks or actions even though the current term is set to expire late next year? The writing is on the wall for all to read.
Mr. Editor, had the PPP leadership known this would have been the outcome of their decision to pick President Jagdeo to run the government, I am sure they either would have said a resounding no or at least put out a disclaimer that read: ‘This political product should do wonders for the health, wealth and longevity of the nation if all the ingredients work together as the manufacturer hopes. However, the buyer/user is advised to exercise extreme caution since this product has never been proven or tried in actual situations’. Only problem now is, not only is the product defective, but the manufacturer seems to lack the power to do a recall (the same way the PPP/government can recall MPs) so we are stuck with their defective product and almost everyone is experiencing some measure of ‘buyers remorse’!
Emile Mervin

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