A DISGRACEFUL LEADER

Aug 02, 2016 Editorial

Spewing hate and pandering to race will not get the opposition leader any respect from the people. It appears that he is caught between a rock and a hard place and has become desperate; not knowing what the future holds for his leadership and his party.
Using racist demagoguery at home and in the diaspora is an old tactic by the leader of the opposition. It will ruin his political career and cause the PPP to remain in opposition for a while. The recent release of the 2012 census shows that the chances of the PPP winning the next election, constitutionally scheduled for 2020 are slim.
It was not long ago that the leader of the opposition was criminally charged for inciting racial politics in Berbice and was placed in the Prisoner’s Dock at the Whim Magistrate’s Court to answer the charges.
One would have thought that he would have learnt from his mistake but apparently not. He is known for spreading propaganda and untruths and for presenting a cockeyed and widely deceitful assessment of the facts.
His use of pretense to communicate how perilous the country is divided along racial lines and him accusing the government of witch-hunting against PPP supporters has boxed him into a corner. Unable to extricate himself from such fibs, his only option is the use of race-bait politics to drive fear into East Indians.
However, hallucinations are common among people like him who find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Their view of reality is impaired by demagoguery, hatred, racism and unstatesman-like behaviour.
In his twisted mind, he went on a racist rant in Queens, New York where he told his supporters that there has been an assault on Guyanese of Indian origin in Guyana, and that there is also an assault by the government on Guyanese who support the PPP. He then talks about taking the country back “from these people.” Only a racist would think that a certain ethnic group owns Guyana, and to label Afro-Guyanese “these people.”
Judging from his bigotry, he seems to be in a dark place and his only way out is to spew hatred and incite racial politics. Those who have the country’s interest at heart including supporters of the PPP have refused to accept his brand of politics of dividing the races to score cheap political points. But a certain minister was seen at a bar in Florida over the weekend imbibing with the opposition leader.
As the de facto President, he led the PPP to defeat in the 2011 general and regional elections, but the party remained in office with a minority government. Obsessed with power, he refused to compromise with the majority opposition, but when threatened with a no confident motion, the PPP prorogued Parliament and ruled by decree before calling elections on May 11, 2015.
Those in the PPP believed that they could not lose the elections.
Since losing the election, the PPP executive has anointed Mr. Jagdeo as their leader with special powers to operate within certain undefined boundaries. They made him larger than the sum of the other party leaders, without realizing that with this type of centralized leadership, the party has no internal mechanisms to disciple the leader or remove him.
It is clear that the PPP is gravely impaled by poor leadership, which has caused the party to haemorrhage. The opposition leader is not of a sound mind set to make any meaningful contribution to the country.
Spewing hatred, inciting racism, and dividing the races are toxic and harmful to the country and a dangerous impediment to social cohesion in Guyana. It must be stopped.

3 thoughts on “A DISGRACEFUL LEADER”

randn01 August 4, 2016 at 8:19 am

Great editorial ,makes good reading but I am detesting one statement “—- where he told his supporters —–” these people did not go there to listen to jagdeo ,they went there for a re-union and I am sure the majority did not listen to him . The truth is that jagdeo have lost touch with reality and is trying to impose himself on the Indians ,but truth be told ,the ppp and jagdeo are in political turmoil it is only a matter of time that he and the ppp will be forced to exit the political arena in Guyana
Will262 August 4, 2016 at 8:54 am

Editor, in the penultimate paragraph the word should be ‘mind-set’ and not the way it is written therein. You have suggested that Jagdeo is of unsound mind. I believe he is.
And then there is disciple instead of discipline and the preceding paragraph.
Anyways, the language structure of the editorial says that it is not one of the regular writers.
1. rs dasai August 5, 2016 at 11:52 am
  
  Will
  Get Freddi to teach these ‘Journalist’ how to write proper grammatical English.