The Guyanese Putin Option?

Apr 27, 2011 Editorial

Partisans of the government were beside themselves when the PPP selected Donald Ramotar as the presidential standard bearer in the upcoming general elections. The cynics that insisted President Jagdeo was plotting to run for a third term were proven absolutely wrong, they crowed. But Mr Ramotar’s subsequent allowance that there might be a role in the next government for Mr Jagdeo has once again resuscitated all the doubts and fears that were sought to be buried.
The fears were, and remain, that the intent of the amendment to the constitution to limit presidential terms of office – and so reduce the effects of extended “one-man rule” from which our country had suffered so terribly – would be subverted. The argument behind Mr Ramotar’s stance is that firstly, Mr Jagdeo would no longer be president and secondly he is an asset that ought not to be wasted. On the surface of things, there is not much wrong about incorporating a very experienced individual in a new administration: Jagdeo is still comparatively young and Guyana is not exactly awash with financial managers of his experience.
But the argument, while addressing the letter of the two-term limit, not only misses its spirit but ignores its blatant subversion in the example that all of us should have seen unfold in Russia with an analogous, disingenuous gambit.
In case there are some that have forgotten the details, let us quickly summarise them. Just as we have it in Guyana, President Putin was barred by the Russian constitution from running for a third Presidential term in 2008. So what does he do? With his tremendously high popularity, he threw his support behind his former chief of staff, Dmitry Medvedev, an individual without any mass base, and “accepts” the latter’s request that he be Prime Minister.
Now many looked at the colossal constitutional powers of the Russian presidency (as its Guyanese counterpart) – such as the power to even dismiss the Prime Minister without the need to offer any reasons – and argued that Medvedev could soon shake himself free of any influence that Putin might want to exert. They had missed the moves Putin had made in his eight years at the helm. In Guyana, Jagdeo has had almost twelve.
With the dismantling of the Soviet state and its necessary reconstitution, Putin had ample opportunity to select individuals that were loyal to him, to fill positions in almost every state sector. It was not exactly fortuitous that Putin had been the head of the powerful and omnipresent secret service – the KGB – and selected from this organisation key officials to fill the power vacuum.
In Guyana, while it was widely conceded that the PPP would have to clean house after 1992, and cadres from the PPP were initially drafted into service, in the last decade, Jagdeo has been as thorough as Putin in filling strategic positions with persons loyal only to him. Many of the PPP old guard have been ignominiously dumped.
Even though, armed with the formidable powers of the Guyanese constitution, Ramotar might believe that he can control Jagdeo if he were to hand over to the latter (as is widely speculated) the finance area – especially the foreign funding – Medvedev’s experience is salutary. In the actual day-to-day business of governance and implementation of new policies, his hands are effectively tied – Putin’s loyal minions are still in control – even of the presidential administration. It would take an extraordinarily focused president to root out and replace all those personnel – especially when the talent pool is not exactly brimming. And this would take up valuable time and resources while Guyana’s fortunes would be swinging in the wind.
In our estimation, Ramotar should insist that Jagdeo go quietly into the night. Whatever his opponents may aver, it is quite premature to pronounce definitively on Jagdeo’s legacy. But as far as having a role in government from where, as with Putin, he may contemplate a new stab at the presidency later, this should be a no-go.
Every eight years, our presidency must be replenished with unencumbered new blood.

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