Jagdeo stays at Pradoville 2 and laughs at us

Oct 14, 2016 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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From the time the APNU-AFC Coalition came into power in May 2015, it should have carried out its moral obligation to the philosophy of freedom. Mind you, not to the Guyanese people, but to philosophy and history, by removing the tyrannical symbols imposed on this country by Presidents Jagdeo and Ramotar. It is paying and will pay a terrible price for this short-sighted incompetence.
Even before it settled down to govern with its own policy directions, the Coalition should have removed Charles Ramson as Information Commissioner; Bibi Shadick as UG Pro-Chancellor, Carvil Duncan from the various commissions he is on; Mahendra Sharma as head of the Energy Agency, because it is a conflict of interest to be an election candidate and a public servant at the same time; Valmiki Singh from the National Frequency Management Unit; Marcia Nadir as head of the Privatization Unit; Leila Ramson as head of the Teaching Service Commission; Phulandar Kandhai from that very body. The list is too numerous to mention.
All of these appointments were born in the womb of PPP’s incestuous politics. These selections were determined more by politics than by merit. Take Kandhai. He was a money changer on America Street and at a cambio named Blue Flame. Kandhai’s boss, a friend of mine, was the head of Guyana Softball Association. Kandhai changed money for me more times that I can count. The PPP took him from America Street and made him the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education. And put him on the Council of the University. Mr. Kandhai remains at the Teaching Service Commission.
What are the qualifications of Carvil Duncan to make him eligible for being on the Police Service Commission, the Judicial Service Commission and head of the Public Service Commission? Mr. Duncan was also on the board of GPL, and was one of two signatories to sign cheques. He is before the court accused of signing a GPL cheque which he paid to himself. The PPP boycotted the Presidential address at Parliament yesterday, and the reason Jagdeo gave puts this country in dangerous directions if the tyranny of the PPP is not confronted.
One of the reasons for the boycott was because of the suspension of a PPP incestuous appointee on three constitutional commissions. And who is the appointed one? Carvil Duncan. In practical terms, what the PPP is telling this nation is that the government of the day cannot remove PPP political installations from when Jagdeo and Ramotar were in power. In other words, this country must accept what the PPP did when it was in power, even though what it did was immoral, unethical, illegal and depraved.
Will there be more boycotts when Ramson is removed? The asininity of the PPP is expanding with every passing day. Here is another reason for the boycott yesterday. Here is Jagdeo in his own words; “You then come…to the Parliament which is the place our laws are born …our democracy is protected…” When and where under Jagdeo and Ramotar was Parliament a place where democracy was protected? Laws passed by that very Parliament were refused the presidential assent and Jagdeo violated the Constitution by not adhering to the ten days’ requirement for written explanation of presidential rejection.
Jagdeo never sent back the Bills within the ten days’ requirement with his explanation for refusing to stamp his assent. It was this same Parliament that cut several items in the Budgets of 2012 and 1013 that were illegally restored by the Minister of Finance under the presidency of Jagdeo’s hand-picked successor, Donald Ramotar.
It was this same Parliament during the tenure of Jagdeo that passed a Bill to allow for the appeal of an accused freed by a judge and jury in the High Court. That Bill was designed to punish critics of Jagdeo after two High Court juries refused to convict Mark Benschop on trumped-up charges.
Where under Jagdeo and Ramotar was Parliament a place of democracy, when the very Parliament was suspended when it sought to bring a no-confidence motion against the minority regime of Donald Ramotar? The PPP spent two decades deriding what they called the Burnham Constitution, yet PNC Presidents Burnham and Hoyte never made use of that Constitution the way successive PPP presidents did.
Look who is talking about democracy and good governance? Bharrat Jagdeo. What a mess this country is drowning in! Former Presidents in Brazil whose integrity Bharrat Jagdeo can never match, even if he was President for a million years, are before the courts for illegal transactions. And Jagdeo stays in his mansion at Pradoville 2, which was illegally acquired, and laughs at this nation.

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