Opposition Leader’s ineffectiveness against Government’s shenanigans fueling public suspicions

Jan 23, 2011 Letters

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Dear Editor,
B. Beniprashad Rayman’s letter, “Is Mr. Mervin driven by fact or mischief?”, (Kaieteur News, January 20), dealt with three of several points/questions I raised in my separate responses to her, the PNCR/Opposition Leader, and Ms. Sonia Clarke.
Her three are 1) the Opposition Leader’s ‘generous retirement package’, 2) the Jagdeo-Corbin secret talks, power sharing and a Jagdeo third term, and 3) the Opposition Leader’s response to the BCGI (bauxite) impasse.
1. Retirement Package: The Opposition Leader, Ms. Rayman, and others of like thinking, denied such a benefits package exists and demanded I produce the evidence in the form of a parliamentary bill.
I responded with my own interpretation of existing facts and no longer see any merit in debating or discussing this issue, so let me wrap up this point for the last time: a retirement benefits package does not need a parliamentary bill in order to exist!
The Jagdeo-Corbin and Luncheon-Carberry secret negotiations that ended in late 2005 and resulted in Opposition Leader’s benefits package being in effect for almost five years before finally becoming law in April, 2010, is all the evidence I need to prove my point. So let’s cut the charade about me producing evidence of a parliamentary bill to support my contention.
I further qualified my contention by pointing out that 1) Given Mr. Corbin will never, ever become Guyana’s President by leading the PNCR to victory over the PPP in a straight election fight, then he is pretty much retired into the position of Opposition Leader, and 2) given he is past retirement age in government (he’s in his early to mid-sixties), then the statutory benefits he is receiving are pretty much his ‘early retirement benefits’.
Bluntly put, Mr. Corbin has peaked politically! This is it for him…unless he can cut a deal with President Jagdeo and or the PPP.
2. BCGI Impasse: In my letter, “Corbin needs to be publicly impassioned about hot-button issues,” SN, January 15, I challenged Mr. Corbin to a) list his achievements since assuming the post of Opposition Leader in December 2002, including identifying the bills he piloted into law in Parliament, the concessions he extracted from government for his constituents or funding he got from government for general projects his party identified.
b) As a fellow Lindener, say what he has achieved for his hometown or done to address the complaints by Lindeners about the government controlling the only television station in Linden or to get government to acquiesce to the court’s order in the case of Chapman and Yearwood versus the government to grant their request for independent radio licences.
Incidentally, it was Mr. Corbin’s party that struck a deal with the government that has us now waiting for new broadcast legislation since 2001, and it was his party that struck a deal to postpone Local Government Elections until reforms are executed, so that we are without LG Elections for over 15 years. The PNC is not helping the people here!
And c) given the glaring financial irregularities in government, cronyism, nepotism, ‘bullyism,’ overpaid contracts, questionable disposition of state resources, the arrest of certain criminal suspects while other criminal suspects are walking freely, etc, let him say what he has done as the main parliamentary opposition leader to help arrest these negative developments. Where is his voice on the BCGI impasse?
Those were my requests, but to my surprise, Ms. Rayman (or is it really Mr. Corbin writing vicariously?) engaged in a political subterfuge by simply plucking the BCGI question from among the others, providing references to the PNCR’s statements and actions of the Opposition Leader’s actions on the issue and then questioning whether my letters are driven by facts or mischief.
Since Ms. Rayman appears to be very familiar with a lot of party matters pertaining to the Opposition Leader, maybe she can collaborate with him to provide her with the other answers and then she can present them for publication in the letters column.
3) Secret talks/third term/power sharing: Ms. Rayman accused me of continuing ‘the rumour of a Jagdeo and Corbin third term and Jagdeo-Corbin secret talks’, but failing to ‘provide any supporting evidence even though asked to do so’.
To prove there were secret talks, I now refer her to my letter, “Benefits for elected officials and parliamentary matters should be addressed by parliamentary committees,” (Kaieteur News, January 17). In it, AFC Chairman, Mr. Raphael Trotman, was cited as saying he (as well as GAP/ROAR) had no knowledge of a meeting that did take place between Mr. Corbin and the President, (“Jagdeo, Corbin hold talks on local government elections,” SN, March 13, 2010).
Additionally, no one knew the Jagdeo-Corbin talks actually focused on benefits for the Opposition Leader, and since we only learned of the deal after the fact, then what else are we still to learn from their talks? There were other pressing public issues, such as setting a date for Local Government Elections, last held in 1994, yet Mr. Corbin’s secret benefits deal took precedence?
On the third term and power sharing question, when I repeatedly question or speculate about it, some saw it as rumour-mongering, but when Mr. Corbin recently said he has proof that the President sought three opinions on extending the life of his government in office beyond the scheduled election date, it was not rumour-mongering? Where is Mr. Corbin’s evidence?
I found it rather ironic that shortly after my letter asking him for evidence to support his startling claim, Kaieteur News carried an article on January 16, “Corbin calls on Jagdeo to release footage of Buxton criminals and politicians,” in which he reportedly said he was ‘glad to hear that President Jagdeo is on record saying that there was an opinion sought at the level of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) as it relates to extending his time in office’.
Mr. Editor, if the President is ‘on record’ then I’d be contented if Mr. Corbin, Ms. Rayman or anyone can refer me to ‘the record’, because this will help validate Mr. Corbin’s claim and also address my questions/speculations about the President seeking to remain in office beyond 2011, through one means or other.
Finally, since Ms. Rayman asked, then she needs to know my true motive for focusing on the Opposition Leader, as well as the President, is because as our nation’s top two public officials they need to stop being economical with the truth/facts pertaining to their talks and deals.
The direction the President is taking Guyana and the ineffectiveness of the Opposition Leader are sufficient reasons to question their true political motivations in this election year.
Emile Mervin

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