The Carvil Duncan affair

Sep 20, 2016 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Bharrat Jagdeo will say things that will make people laugh. But that derision comes from a limited group of people who have studied Jagdeo’s character and his politics and have dismissed him. But with each passing day in this country, children become men, girls become adults and babies grow into teenagers. These new citizens may not know what Bharrat Jagdeo did to Guyana. They may not know that Rohee was an arrogant man whose hubris had no match in any other political party even the colonial governor.
These young adults may not know that Gail Teixeira was a big decision- maker at the University of Guyana. They may not know that Robeson Benn hunted down roadside vendors. They may not know of Juan Edghill’s oxymoronic outpouring of clownish repugnancy in saying that if Jesus were to come down to Guyana during the 2011 election, he would have voted for the PPP.
All over Guyana, people are trembling with the trepidation that such politicians could come back into power. They don’t want that and those who are religiously devoted are praying that they don’t. People are feverishly clinging to the hope that the PNC and the AFC settle their differences and stay in power because if they don’t Teixeira will return to the university, Bibi Shadick may be the Prime Minister, “Killamaan” will become a Minister again, Edghill will become a Minister again, Satyra Gyall will once again take over the Ministry of Education, Benn will dictate which calypso, soca, hip hop, reggae, dance hall tune and romantic ballad NCN can play, and Jagdeo, barred from running again, will become the real king again.
And what about me? The trench outside my house will not be cleaned because Benn will once more be the Minister of Public Works. People do not want this oligarchic cabal to ever rule this country again because people like Carvil Duncan will once more demoralize the body politic of Guyana . This trade unionist turned PPP sycophant was made into one of the custodians of PPP power.
Like Bibi Shadick, he has refused to resign from the formidable fortresses that Jagdeo placed them on top of.
Shadick’s contract as Chairman of the Broadcast Authority was up so she was replaced, but her contract as Pro-Chancellor of the University of Guyana is not, so she has not resigned. Duncan is a different scenario. The Vice-Chancellor and the academics perhaps do not interface with Shadick but Duncan cannot be ignored.
This man is head of the Public Service Commission and sits as a member of the Judicial Service Commission and the Police Service Commission. Jagdeo that put him in these institutions to preserve party power in the State is gone but Duncan has chosen not to resign.
This has to be a pantomime never before seen in the Caribbean. Political appointees go when their patrons and benefactors go. It is the law of practicality and moral realism. If the government appoints a school of political advisors from the ruling party to write policy papers for it then the school goes when its creator goes. Why would Barack Obama have retained the health advisor he inherited from the outgoing Republican presidency who didn’t accept a government-sponsored health care programme?
What Bibi Shadick and Carvil Duncan are doing defy commonsense. We do not have to go so far into moral obligation and political pragmatism to argue for the removal of Shadick and Duncan. Basic commonsense should tell Duncan that given the political position he embraced under Jagdeo, Jagdeo’s patronage of him and Duncan’s open support for the PPP Government, that it would be silly to think that a PNC administration would retain him in those three powerful jurisdictions he currently possesses courtesy of Jagdeo’s maniacal politics.
This is my take on the Bibi Shadick/Carvil Duncan affair. The PPP sat down and said that there is political capital to be gained if the two refuse to resign. The Government will have to force them out and in so doing they could get mileage out of it. The PPP can go to its constituencies and cry witch-hunt. This is what Jagdeo is doing with the tribunal appointed to examine the continuation of Duncan. Jagdeo refers to it as a witch-hunt. That was so predictable.
In the case of Shadick, the government does not need to touch her because the University would not tolerate her interference as it did when Teixeira was the hatchet-woman on the Council.
Writer’s note; Dr. Ghansham Singh has informed me that he does not share a medical practice with Dr. Frank Anthony. I regret the information. Dr. Singh also said that he was not at the meeting when my contract was terminated and if he was, he would not have voted for termination. I regret the misinformation.

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