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More little things of large importance
Sep 23, 2011 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
As the countdown begins to the exit of Mr. Jagdeo, it is expected that there are going to be major assessments of his failures since he acquired power in 1999 by Guyana’s leading social commentators. As night follows day, the Skeldon sugar factory will loom large on the canvas.
But there are little setbacks that Mr. Jagdeo suffered over the years that reveal the brittle basis of his performance. These items may have been small, but they do expose the fundamental flaws in the leadership career of Mr. Jagdeo. These little setbacks have to occupy conspicuous space in the analysis of Mr. Jagdeo’s reign if one is going to be accurate in one’s portrayal.
Yesterday, I looked at two events. I argued that in the 21st century, Mr. Jagdeo should have given Guyana a state-of-the-art bridge over the Berbice River. My point was that the ugly, cheap structure was a reflection of his failed economics. And I assessed the abject collapse of the Guyana Times to compete with the KN and SN.
My point about the Guyana Times was that it was a project close to the heart of Mr. Jagdeo. The entire population knows that its owner is a personal friend of Mr. Jagdeo. The entire population knows that there were accusations that the newspaper benefited from state concession. It would be a massive statement of fact to say that in terms of popularity, influence and circulation, the Guyana Times is a failure.
Today, I present more evidence of tiny defeats that assume large proportions in the overall assessment of Mr. Jagdeo’s non-existent legacy. For all his popularity, as proclaimed by Guyana Times, the state owned media and the PPP, cricket lovers ignored Mr. Jagdeo’s protesting presence at a One-Day International that was played between the West Indies and Pakistan earlier this year.
Long before the start of play, Mr. Jagdeo, accompanied by Shivnarine Chanderpaul (who later apologized to the WI Board for his action at a closed-door meeting), stood in front of the Stadium’s entrance with a placard that read, “The West Indian Cricket Board is a disgrace.”
The protest was against the dropping of Chanderpaul for that game. This writer was told that fans passed, looked at Mr. Jagdeo, and went on their way to see the match. There was a capacity attendance. I was told by persons who attended the event that during the time he held up his placard, Mr. Jagdeo was smiling and there wasn’t a posture of seriousness about him at all.
For the purpose of this column, I went to look for the photograph in the Chronicle and it has Mr. Jagdeo laughing broadly, with Chanderpaul at his side giggling too. In my long experience in picketing, I have learnt that when the press comes, you don’t want to be photographed laughing, because it tends to play down the seriousness of your cause.
There was the private sector dinner he addressed last year in which he made an emotional plea to his listeners to boycott the Kaieteur News. He told the Guyanese business community that the paper is harmful to Guyana’s progress and it paints a bad portrait of Guyana.
He specifically told the gathering that it is their money that is keeping the paper alive to do its “mischief.” To date, there has been no diminution in private sector advertising in the Kaieteur News. Surely, one has to be foolish or barefaced to deny that Mr. Jagdeo’s advocacy was rejected.
In my opinion, it showed a lack of faith in Mr. Jagdeo or a total lack of influence by Mr. Jagdeo on those who make up the investment class. One can go further and say that there seems to be an increase in advertisements in this paper since that boycott urge was made. I fail to see what other kind of interpretation one can put to this incident. It was a failure on the part of Mr. Jagdeo (who is supposed to be a great, brilliant leader that is very popular in Guyana).
Contrast this outcome with the success with which Mr. Desmond Hoyte’s Chronicle boycott call was received. To this day, commentators feel that the Chronicle’s circulation never picked up again after Hoyte urged people not to buy it.
Finally, one of the most ignominious moments in Mr. Jagdeo’s presidential career from which he will never recover was his graphic inability to get his own supporters to turn away from the two newspapers he hates – KN and SN. From the Essequibo to the border with Suriname, PPP supporters read KN and SN, and not Guyana Times and the Chronicle.
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