That insult to a serving president

Mar 23, 2014 Features / Columnists, My Column

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Politics is a remarkable game, and I say game, because people are always trying to outwit others and score points. It is not that some politicians are not keen to improve the welfare of the people, but it is simply that leaders do not always seem to motivate their followers enough.
At the same time there is always an element of disrespect for some leaders, because people try to compare them to those who appear to be more flamboyant. In Guyana, any leader who tries to negotiate with the opposition is seen as weak.
Sometimes, though, people take things too far and the result is not only embarrassment for some leaders, but also a move to promote something that is so out of the question. We saw that recently when two media houses sought to promote former President Bharrat Jagdeo.
What should be recognized is that the former president is not eligible for any future term at the helm of the country. The constitution does specify that no person shall serve more than two consecutive terms. Perhaps some see the consecutive terms in the clause meaning just that, but that the president could return.
In conversations with the Attorney General, I learnt that the framers of the constitution never intended the literal meaning. The conclusion is that having served two consecutive terms the president should go into retirement.
I also had discussions with other legal luminaries and they were all of the same conclusion. There is nothing after the two consecutive terms. Yet we see a news report of an opposition-sponsored poll that favoured Bharrat Jagdeo.
When I saw the first story I smiled because I knew that the opposition would not sponsor a poll that would factor in Jagdeo. Secondly, I know that the opposition parties are cash-strapped so they would find it really difficult to even consider a poll, not that they set much store by polls.
That caused me to wonder about the architect of the news report and the motive. My mind went back to the flurry of activities when some thought that Jagdeo should have a third term. I saw the billboards and the flyers.
In Trinidad in 2009 I did ask President Jagdeo whether he was considering a third term. His reply was an emphatic ‘no’. He then added that he had made a similar statement on previous occasions when he was asked the same question.
However what one says publicly is sometimes different from what he would say in private. There were people who said to me that Jagdeo did approach them and asked whether they would support his push for a third term.
So when this news report first appeared in a newspaper with which Jagdeo has close ties—some say that he is a major shareholder in the paper—my mind went back to the short-lived campaign for a third term. But then came the publication in the state-owned Guyana Chronicle.
The news report, I learnt, was sent to the Chronicle by an employee of Guyana Times. That alone would not have ensured publication. Someone with control of the Chronicle would have issued a directive to the staff, who behave like rabbits. And I can say that, because I was once at the helm of the Chronicle. I was exposed to the directive of politicians, but the professional I was, I would simply point out to them that some of their requests would not set store by me.
They took me on many occasions before the then President Desmond Hoyte and when I explained my position, he would say that I was employed to do the job and that my decision would rule the day. This is not the case today, largely because the people there believe that they need to hold on to their jobs at all cost.
So someone – and I have a suspicion I know who that person is – instructed that the report be carried and the headline displayed on the front page. However, when anger flared in Office of the President, those who so frontally ordered the Chronicle to carry the report, ducked for cover. They too want to keep their jobs.
To my mind, the report disrespected President Donald Ramotar, who has not even completed his first term as president, and who would most certainly lead the party into the next elections. To suggest that he is a lame duck is too much for any leader to bear. And to carry that report in the state media is to add insult to injury.
I now ask, why would Jagdeo want to return as president? Is it that power is so addictive? Is he finding it difficult to adjust to life away from the spotlight and therefore craves the publicity?
There is talk that he presided over corruption and that would have overshadowed the things that he did to take Guyana into the twenty-first century. He has youth on his side and he is charismatic but then again, he could not motivate the voters in 2011 which suggested that his star had pitched.
So there is a scapegoat at the Chronicle and another push to have Jagdeo seize the limelight has crashed.

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