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Has Bharat Jagdeo ‘Putinized’ the PPP?

Mar 27, 2015 Letters

Dear Editor,
One would have to be blind to not notice the re-emergence of former President Bharat Jagdeo within the political milieu of Guyana.  For the discerning who follow international affairs closely, it is easy to observe the glaring similarities between the way Mr. Jagdeo functions and that of Vladimir Putin, President of the USSR.  Putin served as Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000.  He won the 2000 presidential election despite widespread accusations of vote-rigging, and served as President from 2000 to 2008. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits, Putin was ineligible to run for a third consecutive presidential term in 2008.  Dmitry Medvedev, whom it is widely believed was hand-picked by Putin, won the 2008 Presidential election and promptly appointed Putin as Prime Minister, thus beginning a period of so-called tandemocracy.  Putin’s second term as Prime Minister ran from 2008 to 2012.   In September 2011, following a change in the law extending the presidential term from four years to six, Putin announced that he would seek a third, non-consecutive term as President in the 2012 presidential election, an announcement which led to large-scale protests in many Russian cities. In March 2012, Putin won the election, which was criticized for procedural irregularities, and is serving a six-year term.
It is an open secret that President Ramotar was hand-picked and foisted upon the PPP at the end of Jagdeo’s second presidential term.  Because of constitutionally mandated term limits, President Jagdeo was ineligible to run for a third consecutive term.   Like Medvedev, Ramotar most likely qualified for this position because he was perceived as being malleable.  In return, President Ramotar has now given virtual carte blanche to former President Jagdeo to run the affairs of state after being forced to call elections following a vote of no-confidence.  While all this is going on, there is the strange filing by a private citizen to allow for Jagdeo to run for a third non-consecutive term as president.   It is clear to see where this is all going.  At the moment, one hears more from former President Jagdeo than the sitting hand-picked President Ramotar.  Jagdeo’s likeness appears on election campaign posters with the same level of prominence as that of President Ramotar and the Prime Ministerial candidate Mrs. Elizabeth Harper.  Jagdeo is holding press conferences; Jagdeo is demonizing his mentors the Jagans.  His voodoo economics dominate the airwaves extolling his virtues as the greatest leader Guyana ever had.
One cannot open the newspapers or turn on the radio and not hear of Former President Bharat Jagdeo who looms large and ominous over the political landscape of the PPP.  This is Guyana’s moment of tandemocracy.  The PPP seems bereft of ideas and the poor showing at their meetings is proof of a population that thinks this government has had one term too many.  Despite all this, the PPP remains smug and confident of victory, while debates rage about the size of the electoral list which has shown phenomenal growth since 2011.  Could this be the PPPs trump card?  Should the PPP win on May 11, would the laws be changed to allow for a third non-consecutive term in office for the former president?  Is former President Bharat Jagdeo our own homegrown Putin?  We wait with bated breath.
Clifford Barnes

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