When big isn’t beautiful – Lessons from Jagdeoism

Oct 24, 2013 Letters

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Dear Editor,
On Monday 7th October 2013, my whole person was petrified with anger so extreme that I ignored the pressing demands of duty to my family, friends and co-workers and stayed at home all day for fear that I may snap at others and transfer the negative energy that came over me.
So, I spent the day in solitude; listening to soft inspirational music, ignoring the cell phone, and having intermittent naps along with a few comforting verses of Biblical scripture to help me overcome the negative vibes. This tidal wave of anger came as a result of Jagdeo’s now infamous self-styled buse-out at Lusignan the previous night.
On the morning of Oct 7, as I was making a routine check of my inbox I came upon a transcript of the speech. After reading it, I literally could not continue with the predetermined plans for the remainder of that day, there was lots that was said that night (by Jagdeo and several other speakers) to be annoyed about, but none quite hit home as hard as the words, “do not lose hope because of a few potholes, bad roads and unkempt drains… we should look at the big picture.”
The Chronicle reported, “While people lament about the small things which affect them such as pot holes and drains in front of their yards …the PPP/C during its 21 years in government has been ensuring bigger problems are solved.”
I was swept by a tsunami of anger, I could literally feel my blood boil and to prevent myself from giving the DPP extra work, I decided to stay indoors and was determined not to write or speak (not even to close friends and family) about this, unless I can do so with neutral emotive composure. The fact that I’m now writing about it means that I believe I have sufficiently detoxified.
My message to Mr. Jagdeo, his surrogate, President Ramotar, and others in the administration, is that little things matter more to little people than the big things.
While on my way to a wedding in Linden (the entire episode aptly captured by Freddie Kissoon in his article Aug. 13, 2013), I fell victim to a “small pot hole,” my car tyre exploded and the rim (sold only by a set of four costs in excess of $100,000) was shattered, I was too distressed to be angry.
Another motorist gave directions to a miracle working machine shop in Cummingslodge, to get the rim repaired I was out of $6,500. The cost of a new tyre was beyond my reach, at the used tyre shop a suitable one was procured for $7,500, add the cost for gas to run around town to as far as Mon Repos on the East Coast and back at least twice among the other incidental costs for air valve etc. I was out by $16,000 an amount that should have been used for groceries.
I stood, for the umpteenth time, feeling cheated out of my groceries by a government that is bold enough to admit that it does not care about fixing potholes, removing garbage and cleaning drains.
Mr. Jagdeo, the little pothole you asked us not to bother about cost me $16,000 on this occasion and several similar sums on many previous occasions and at least twice thereafter. Sir, I now lodge my cellphone number with the editor of this newspaper. Can you have one of your assistants make contact with me with information on how to collect my refund for this “small thing” from you, so that every time I hit a pothole I wouldn’t have to worry about the state of my cupboard.
The words of Mr. Jagdeo are very instructive; it is a summary, self-biographical reference and poignant explanation about why he run the government the way he did. In outlining his continued vision for Guyana, he boldly declared that citizens should not bother themselves about the little things that enrich and comfort the lives of the little poor people, so we are told to clamour for Marriott (“the big picture”) in favour of development at UG, for a new Airport without planes in favour of garbage collection and the cleaning of clogged waterways.
The majority of poor people will never use the new airport and even some well-off people will never afford to set foot inside the Marriott while the powers that be are attempting to brainwash the masses into accepting the big things for a small circle of big people.
It is not a lack of resources or the wherewithal to procure funding for the “small things” it is a bold declaration that that is not the way we run government around here, we deliberately turn a blind eye to putrid streets and drains, we consider fixing potholes and road craters unimportant, we consider police reform bad for business, we see law and order as deterrent to progress, we see corruption as a way of life, we see the media and the opposition as vultures and the people of Guyana as sheepish dunderheads who do not deserve a decent comfortable life.
Many political analysts have opined that the pull-factor of Nagamootoo in the AFC is the cause for the PPP’s minority government status. I wish to refute this proposition most unambiguously. I believe there is a stronger claim that the election results were shaped more by a Jagdeo push-factor. Jagdeo has made Nagamootoo a hero.
The historical evolution and psychology of the nation does not allow it to convert attraction for a third party (and its personalities) into tangible votes, except there is gross disenchantment with the main parties. The seats won by AFC in 2006 from mostly black constituents was due more to a disillusionment with the Corbin leadership than with the attractiveness of Raphael Trotman.
Was it merely the pull of Rodney that sent massive black support and mobilization his way? Not necessarily, it was the push of Burnhamite dictatorship that made Rodney so attractive. This nation has a history of inter-election courtship with third parties that gives the feeling that we are a maturing electorate, then the ballots tell a different story. The thousands of “PPP supporters” who stayed at home in 2011 (who are now being accused of complacency), did not do so out of admiration for Nagamootoo, but out of a growing disillusionment with the Jagdeoite politics that have overtaken the ruling elite.
If Ramotar continues to serve proxy for Jagdeo, while the latter gentleman is given free rein to sing so many foolish refrains, then the PPP’s road to oppositiondom is only a few short mornings away, their Achilles’ heel being the harbouring of the political zombie, Jagdeoism.
When a wife has to bury her husband due to a sound beating from a minibus conductor because the government fails to properly regulate public transportation is it a little thing? When citizens have to wade through dirty water mixed with filth from their backyard latrine every time it rains because of a government that deliberately leaves the drains clogged is that a little thing?
When a nurse is assaulted and robbed while walking to work in a lonely dark street in West Demerara because the government fails to install two street lamps, can it be a little thing? When a young girl is sexually assaulted right by the roadside because the government does not consider clearing of bushes a priority, where is the little thing?
When a motorist has to repeatedly purchase new wheels because of potholes on roads that were paved only a few months earlier, why worry about such little things? When the University of Guyana has outdated books, smelly washrooms, lecturers who turn in grades weeks after the start of a new semester, shortage of lecturers and a teaching staff made up of 82% first degree holders, a governing council clad with political nitwits, labs which lack basic facilities that every high school should have and a rundown physical infrastructure, is it a little thing?
Oh, I feel sad for little Guyana with 98% little people, a little ruling clique that don’t bother about small things and small neighbourhoods. Why be the champion for even one little street somewhere in Guyana when you could be the champion of the Earth?
Lenno Craig

 

 

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