An unknown dictator and Shakespeare’s famous quote

Jul 10, 2011 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Shakespeare puts the following words into the mouth of Macbeth;
“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more.”
No quote can be more appropriate in analyzing the career of the outgoing President of this country. As he sings his swan song, Mr. Jagdeo is looking for his moment on the international stage.
It is a lacklustre performance because what he mutters on the world stage doesn’t gel with his behaviour at home.
Speaking to aggrieved air-traffic controllers, just after he touched down from New York, he told them, if he was greeted with picket action that he heard they had planned for him, he would have fired them.
Guyana has become one of the messiest of the banana republics we have seen since the 21st century began. A President can tell workers that if they picket him, he will dismiss them from their public service jobs. And no one responded against the threat from the republic’s oligarch.
No wonder a poll shows a majority of Jamaicans would have preferred to remain under the domain of the colonial governor.
Even in British Guiana, the governor’s power to fire at His Majesty’s Pleasure was not accepted by the locals and was in fact challenged.
This same President held a picket protest against the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) outside the National Stadium when Pakistan played us, calling for the selection of Shivnarine Chanderpaul. No commentator referred to this action as an abysmal failure by Mr. Jagdeo, but it was.
He took his placard early at the entrance, yet was ignored by his fellow Guyanese, because the attendance was a sellout.
It reminds one of the earnest imploration by the President to the business community not to advertise in this newspaper.
Yet one of the President’s most cherished friends, Mr. Eddie Boyer asked me in his store; “Why Kaieteur is not taking my advertisements?” Even Mr. Jagdeo’s lieutenants in the business community ignored his advocacy.
Next stop on the global stage was the recent CARICOM Heads meeting in St. Kitts. Mr. Jagdeo gave the WICB a lecture in democracy.
It was Macbethian viciousness, because Mr. Jagdeo has never practised the type of democracy that meets the textbook and international standards.
It is this writer’s contention that Mr. Jagdeo, by instinct, is an authoritarian leader most happy and most comfortable with a dictatorial style and most willing to use naked power.
In what must be one of the world’s most shocking manifestations of hypocrisy, Mr. Jagdeo made the following comments; (1) – there must be a system that makes the WICB accountable. (2) – the WICB thinks it owns West Indian cricket but it belongs to “all of us.” (3) – the WICB operates as if it is the private owner of WI cricket. (4) – in many countries where you have consistent failures, those responsible have to go.
There isn’t a Guyanese, from a baby in the cradle to the advanced lady reaching her 100th birthday, who would not find these expressions of the Guyanese Head of State extremely hypocritical.
One — accountability. Mr. Jagdeo has not shown any respect for the principle of accountability in government for the twelve years he has been in the presidency. To this day, Mr. Jagdeo flouts the Constitution and refuses to put the Lotto money into the Consolidated Fund.
Mr. Jagdeo’s office has not told the nation how much his government spent on World Cup Cricket and Carifesta. The yearly Auditor-General Report may put Mr. Jagdeo in legal quicksand if his party loses the next election.
Two — ownership. If you think Mr. Burnham behaved as if he had the transport for Guyana as his personal document then Mr. Jagdeo makes him look like an incompetent real estate operator. No Head of State has so presided over the transfer of a country’s resources into private hands as Bharrat Jagdeo.
It is doubtful, I say impossible, that his tenure will not be the object of a judicial inquiry if the PPP is defeated at the next election. So much secrecy, mysteries and untold incidents, episodes and transactions of skullduggery have occurred under Mr. Jagdeo’s watch that it would be impossible not to have an investigation if the opposition becomes the government.
Finally – removal after non-performance. Well true to form, Mr. Jagdeo must say something to make you laugh.
He wants the present WICB to go because they failed. Mr. Jagdeo should read what the US Embassy had to say about life in Guyana.
I guess he is going, but not through forced removal. But going nevertheless.

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An unknown dictator and Shakespeare’s famous quote

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