Transporting hypocrisy

Sep 28, 2010 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Did you read “Dem Boys Seh” in last Sunday’s edition of this newspaper? It was one of the best satirical pieces in decades; probably over a very long time. It was unique satire. Basically caricature pieces are intended to be funny with no visible sign of seriousness. In fact it is a contradiction in terms to speak of satire that is interesting. The difference with Dem Boys Seh last Sunday is that it was rib-tickling but simultaneously very curious. The piece was about President Jagdeo’s exhortation in his UN speech that countries around the world need to be more transparent and accountable in their global policies.
Dem Boy Seh made a devastating mockery of Mr. Jagdeo that had to catch the eye of every reader of that edition of Kaieteur News. It was enjoyable. I loved it. There was a lapse however. I thought Dem Boys Seh would have carried the information that I was hospitalised Sunday morning after yet another encounter with torridly hot coffee.
Over the years readers would know how many times hot coffee burnt me and how many times I died after picking up the newspaper to read the most unsavoury hypocrisy coming out the mouths of PPP leaders.
Is President Jagdeo’s latest episode the most amusing in a long list of hypocritical outpourings? How can President Jagdeo lecture even a boy scout gathering on transparency and accountability much less other nations? Can Jagdeo address Obama on transparency and accountability?
Any historian who has studied Guyanese politics would tell you that Mr. Jagdeo has chalked up a balance sheet that is the most infamous in the history of the Caribbean in terms of transparency and accountability. And the reason for this is because Mr. Jagdeo is happy with authoritarian instincts.
This writer lived under the Burnham dictatorship and would say in the most unambiguous language that never for a moment would I believe that Mr. Burnham would have denied Christopher Ram the right to speak at that CLICO forum called by Mr. Jagdeo himself. Mr. Burnham was so over-confident that he would have felt he was capable not of defeating Ram but embarrassing him with his access to language.
It is unbelievable that just over a week after killing an ambience of transparency on the CLICO affair, Mr. Jagdeo traveled to the UN to address that august body on the exigency of countries to be more transparent and accountable in their dealings with the international community.
There have been expressions of amazement that a secretive President like Jagdeo can talk about transparency and accountability when he is known in Guyana as a leader who has no interest in such types of governance. So why he chose that topic? It has to do with his frustrations with Norway.
Mr. Jagdeo in a subtly aggravated attack on Norway complained about the pathways Norway has chosen to distribute the LDCS money to Guyana. Norway has delegated the World Bank to ascertain if Guyana has met the requirements for the first installment of US$250M. In an unusual admission, Mr. Jagdeo told the foreign media that Norway chose the World Bank. One wonders if he realized what he said.
If Mr. Jagdeo’s LCDS project is a partnership between Guyana and Norway then by what right did Norway ask the World Bank to intervene? Mr. Jagdeo said in pellucid language that Norway chose the World Bank. Well did Guyana agree? In a moment of huge frustration with the World Bank Mr. Jagdeo cast doubt on early disbursement. He asserts that the World Bank keeps insisting on more and more.
My own take on the Norway agreement is that Mr. Jagdeo will not see the first installment before his presidency ends.
What is amusingly ironic is that the World Bank is moving slowly to hand over the money for reasons of accountability and transparency. Mr. Jagdeo told the foreign press that at a meeting requested by the World Bank, two Guyanese, three Norwegians and 38 World Bank officials turned up. He still doesn’t understand why such a large contingent from the World Bank. International officials are aware that the Government of Guyana is one of the most corrupt regimes in the world. They read reports from Transparency International. World Bank officials are aware that scare factors in the Jagdeo Government are transparency and accountability.
They are unsure if Guyana has met its side of the bargain in the LCDS covenant. They are unsure that in Georgetown, transparency and accountability will accompany the spending of the Norwegian money. Mr. Jagdeo is annoyed he is not getting his US$250M. I doubt he ever will.