Radio licences and dictatorship

Apr 21, 2013 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

When Bharrat Jagdeo in 2011, still as President and months before a general election, invented a circus called ‘Day of Appreciation’ at the National Stadium, some surprising names offered praise to Jagdeo. Just before that general election, I took objection to some comments about the positive accomplishments of the Jagdeo Government
The people making those comments and others may have seen the Jagdeo Government in a context that critics of the PPP Government didn’t, thus their praise. Why should one argue with that? But what about the radio licences and the frequencies that Jagdeo virtually gave away with incestuous glee just before his presidency ended?
Contrast the position of those making the comments with our legendary commentator, Ian Mc Donald. Mr. Mc Donald does not offer political opinions. He never does. Perhaps he sees his role as that of a literary expert. Perhaps he says that a country needs all types of commentators and he will do what he knows best – literary criticism.
Ian Mc Donald did comment on the radio licence insanity in his weekly Stabroek News page. As a decent Guyanese, he probably felt that Mr. Jagdeo had crossed the line. But it wasn’t only Mr. Mc Donald; ‘Kit’ Nascimento also voiced his condemnation. Mr. Nascimento has generally been a silent supporter of Mr. Jagdeo’s regime over the years. Maybe for him, Mr. Jagdeo had gone way too far.
The radio licence scandal will not move people like Rickey Singh, an aging, fading journalist who claims that President Forbes Burnham’s authoritarian rule caused him to seek asylum in Barbados. Since the PPP came to power in 1992, Singh has been a pro-government columnist with the Chronicle, heaping weekly panegyrics on the PPP Government but he ain’t coming back to Guyana because no matter how bad Burnham was, Singh knows that Guyana is sitting on a volcano. Not a natural volcano, but one that Singh’s favourite CARICOM government literally brought into existence.
I once saw a great Italian movie in which the male lead star told the female lead star that the world is mad so live life to the fullest and forget about everything else. How right he was. Mad may be too mild a word to use to describe the world. Can the world be taken seriously when the University of the West Indies left all the excellent journalists in the Caribbean and awarded of all people, Rickey Singh, an honorary doctorate?
Can people have faith in the world when the United Nations made Bharrat Jagdeo “Champion of the Earth?” When that happened, if a survey was taken among Guyanese it would have revealed that most Guyanese see the UN as a big global mockery.
Mr. Jagdeo, at the time he collected his prize, presided over a country whose capital was the most foul smelling and dirtiest in the entire world. The people who gave Jagdeo that gift would not dare to continue to walk down any street in Georgetown once they took a glance at what was in front of them.
The famous R& B singer Lou Rawls sang a song titled “Trade Winds.” That is his song I like the best, because of its philosophical base. Here is the line that exposes the hypocrisy of the University of the West Indies, the United Nations and the world:
“Children both rich and poor
They’re searching for the truth
And if they don’t find it
God help tomorrow’s youth.”
As the 21st century moves on, young people, both rich and poor, don’t respect traditional institutions in their own country and in the world. They don’t respect their elders whose values they see are built on a foundation of double standards, hypocrisy and deceit.
Mr. Jagdeo himself didn’t give a damn about the words of Sir Shridath Ramphal or the generosity of the United Nations. Just before he left office, he removed the one radio station farce and literally gave away radio licences to his friends, relatives and PPP members.
Mr. Jagdeo must have said to himself, “What do I care about the UN or Ramphal, the world is like this, nobody is better than any other.”
There are countries that pour money into Guyana to help it, but look what the rulers of Guyana do – they trample on the very essence of freedom. Aren’t these countries going to act now? Will they remain silent on what Jagdeo did with the radio licences? The radio licence circus is an act of democratic violation that should cause the IDB, World Bank and other multilateral institutions, the ABC countries and yes, CARICOM, to intervene.
The PPP Government has become a naked dictatorship.

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Radio licences and dictatorship

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