Kicking asses: The story of unlimited power

Mar 27, 2015 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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If any country in the last fifty years since the fall of Fascist Europe after World War Two shows the psychological invincibility that takes over leaders who rule without opposition, it is the reign of Bharrat Jagdeo in Guyana.
Mr. Jagdeo told his audience in Berbice on the occasion of the 2015 death anniversary of Cheddi Jagan that Mr. Ramotar was not a strong enough president. He said that Mr. Ramotar should have kicked some asses during the period 2012 to 2015 when his term ended. In expressing that attitude, Mr. Jagdeo was displaying his psychological invincibility.
What Mr. Jagdeo was totally oblivious to was the fact emblazoned all over Guyana and that only he, Jagdeo was not conscious of, that Mr. Ramotar was not a majority president therefore any kicking of asses meant he was kicking the people who won the 2011 General Elections.
There can be no doubt that Mr. Jagdeo was serious in his advocacy. Had he won the 2011 plurality of votes and become a minority president, he would have kicked asses as if he was the majority president. Why did Mr. Jagdeo advocate that a minority president should have pulverized his opposition?
Because Mr. Jagdeo’s psychology was shaped by the enormous excesses that he got away with when he was president. The excesses were criminal, depraved, sick and semi-fascist. Mr. Jagdeo in negative contexts did the unimaginable, the incredible, the unbelievable and simply got away with it for about ten consecutive years – 2001 to 2011.
Operating with such a colossal licence, Mr. Jagdeo’s psyche underwent a deep metamorphosis – he thought of himself as unassailable in every conceivable way. Mr. Jagdeo knew that no colonial governor and no post-1966 head of government in Guyana had such unlimited power as he did and it made him omnipotent.
Mr. Jagdeo committed one huge atrocity after another, and each time he escaped unscathed he grew more fascist and took more latitude. Mr. Jagdeo was not stupid. He knew that many of his morbid excesses should have cost him his throne. But as the phantasmagoria of violations kept piling up on the heads of the Guyanese people, Mr. Jagdeo’s monarchial illusion grew stronger.
When Mr. Jagdeo’s fake marriage and psychological abuse of his wife were exposed, Mr. Jagdeo actually thought he would have had to resign. As they say in common parlance, Mr. Jagdeo was “like a fish out of water.” He went to several persons in a depressed mood seeking advice. This columnist has proof of that.
But the society refused to be uncompromising and demand his resignation. The Opposition remained in their seats in Parliament and it was business as usual. Mr. Jagdeo survived and his ego grew larger. Roger Khan was reportedly killing people the way we swat flies and acting like a one-man army in Chato’s Land.
The society refused to confront Jagdeo and remove him from office. The Opposition remained in their parliamentary seats and it was business as usual.
Mr. Jagdeo’s boldness enhanced his sadism. He jumped the natural successors in the army’s chain of command and chose a Rear Admiral for obvious reasons. In a plural society such as Guyana where ethnic sensitivities have to be observed, the army refused to react and Jagdeo’s Rear Admiral ruled the Guyana Defence Force while Jagdeo ruled Guyana.
Mr. Jagdeo introduced lie detector tests for the public sector. Dozens were dismissed without legal basis, because there is no law that sanctions dismissal for the failure of a polygraph. Mr. Jagdeo was on the verge of monarchial power. He elevated a criminal-minded policeman as Commissioner of Police, Mr. Henry Greene.
The American Government informed him that Greene was engaged in criminal conduct and should not be promoted to head the police force. The society let Jagdeo have his way.
Mr. Jagdeo elevated a known associate of Roger Khan who actually took up residence in Khan’s Queenstown home when Khan was on his rampage. Mr. Jagdeo gave him a top anti-narcotic position. It was a clear and nasty example of Dracula being appointed as the head of the blood bank.
Mr. Jagdeo got away with it. His illusions of being as powerful over his country as Hitler was in Germany were complete.
By 2010 Jagdeo had become the de facto king of Guyana. A virtual non-entity who bypassed some of the great names in the PPP’s leadership to become President, Mr. Jagdeo had become so power drunk that he turned Cheddi Jagan’s party into his play thing and even humiliated and insulted Jagan’s widow.
From 2001 to 2011 Mr. Jagdeo kicked countless asses. His only moment of cowardice was when he ran away from the libel trial.

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