`Navin Chandarpal looks to put Jagdeo saga behind

Jan 10, 2012 News

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Navin Chandarpal is now only dusting his office out as he readies to get back to advising the President of Guyana; only this time, it’s not Bharrat Jagdeo.
In fact, Chandarpal does not even want to get back into any talk about the bitter quarrel after Jagdeo accused him of being incompetent and of mouthing party business in the rum shops.

“There are a lot of challenges that remain and so I decided to return,” Chandarpal told Kaieteur News yesterday. He was invited by President Donald Ramotar to resume his post as Presidential Advisor on Science, Technology and Sustainable Development.
Chandarpal has been Guyana’s leading mind on sustainable development since 1992, but the ugly spat with Jagdeo saw him ousted from Office of the President for two years.
The quarrel between Chandarpal and Jagdeo was played out in the media and revealed deep divisions at the helm of the ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic; but Chandarpal will not be dragged into talking about it again.
In December 2009, Chandarpal was fired by then President Bharrat Jagdeo, who later said publicly that he, Chandarpal, was incompetent and had never completed an assignment for him.
Chandarpal had defended himself in a strongly worded letter to the press.
He said he remained proud of his contributions in the field of sustainable development and he was humbly appreciative of the expressions of appreciation by “the people who matter in Guyana, the Caribbean and beyond.”
Chandarpal is back at the Office of the President, and though he retains the same title, his responsibilities are not the same.
Given that President Ramotar moved to establish a Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, some of the responsibilities Chandarpal once handled, have now been shifted to that Ministry.
Chandarpal said that his role is to guide the president in policy issues as these relate to sustainable development, science and technology.
While yet still settling into the job once again, Chandarpal said some of his work will focus on Guyana’s preparation for the Earth Summit 2012. The summit will be the fourth of its kind and represents another milestone in ongoing international efforts to accelerate progress towards achieving sustainable development globally.
With Chandarpal back at the Office of the President, he has given up his post as Principal of the labour college run by the Guyana Agriculture and General Workers Union (GAWU). He took up the position when he was fired by Jagdeo.
The public row between Chandarpal and Jagdeo erupted over the President’s remark that if the process to choose the Presidential Candidate of the ruling party is to be done by secret ballot, this could be “dangerous as candidate hopefuls could promise persons things in order to get their votes.”
Chandarpal, who also served as Jagdeo’s Agriculture Minister, took offence at the President’s remark.
“I am not accustomed to gutter politics,” Chandarpal shot back in a letter to the press.
Chandarpal said he was not fired because of “non-performance,” but rather because he was accused of being openly critical of Jagdeo.
“It seems as though my ‘non-performance’ has been this speaking up in the internal forums when I did not agree with the views and actions of others regardless of their official status,” he declared.
Touching on the President’s remark about him being in rum shops, Chandarpal said that like most Guyanese, he socializes in public places with his friends and enjoys running into old friends and acquaintances of all walks of life.
“I do not hide and have nothing to hide. Maybe, in this new period of Exquisite Hangouts for the more financially endowed, the status of the places where everyone else hangs out has been downgraded to rum shops. I prefer to be surrounded by the average Guyanese than by the new elites,” he declared.
Chandarpal said that he could not be accused of being bitter and vindictive. The “vindictive part has to be an attempt at a joke. Every Guyanese knows who is the most vindictive of all.”
Chandarpal is a graduate in Physics and Mathematics and served as a secondary school teacher and university lecturer in these subjects. In his early youth, he was a student activist and youth leader.
He has coordinated national activities on sustainable development since 1992, serving as Adviser to the President (initially on Science, Technology and Environment and then on Sustainable Development) and as Coordinator of the Cabinet appointed Natural Resources and Environment Advisory Committee. He also served for a few years as Minister of Agriculture and a Member of Parliament.
Mr. Chandarpal has headed Guyana’s delegation to several international meetings, including the annual UN Commission on Sustainable Development. He also represented Guyana on the Board of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center.

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