Questions this ex-president must answer before 2020

Apr 24, 2018 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

At a press conference last week, former president Bharrat Jagdeo exceeded his usual demagoguery, non-stop propagandistic rhetoric and accustomed barefaced art of deception. Jagdeo went far outside of the limits of decency to fool his supporters. But it was self-defeating.
No one who has lived in this country under Jagdeo’s de jure presidency (1999-2011) and de facto presidency (2011-2015) would accept what came out of Jagdeo’s mouth last week. Mr. Jagdeo is getting scared and the anxiety is leading him to commit fatal political mistakes.
Jagdeo told the media that when the campaign for the 2020 election begins he would like to embrace an alliance with civil society and other organizations. He would structure the relationship in such a way as to empower his allies, so they do not have to feel that once the PPP wins in 2020, that they would be discarded. The PPP would ensure that campaign promises are not broken when victory comes and thirdly, a mechanism will be installed to supervise the accountability of state power.
Here is Mr. Jagdeo in his own words; “Any party that wants to be part of that collective which pursues those dreams will have a space”. Read on, there is more to come.
Jagdeo said that the next PPP government would design policies to empower the poor and there will be inclusive governance that takes in every race and religion. He went on to acknowledge civil society’s desires for constitutional reform and political party campaign financing and promised those things will be done.
Here is Jagdeo again; “We have to find a model that involves everyone in the future and not just oil and gas, but maybe in a governance setting, and that’s why I said our party will work on a pact with civil society before the next elections.”
If you come from another planet you would not believe that Mr. Jagdeo was in power for twelve years and was the king behind the Ramotarian throne for three years. And you would not know that it is just a mere three years that Jagdeo lost power. And you also would not know that since losing office, Jagdeo has addressed hundreds of PPP-sponsored rallies and held dozens of press conference, and deliberately missing from his repertoire are the words “ I apologize,” I’m sorry,” “I’ve made mistakes.”
Now that you know that Jagdeo was once a Leviathan in Guyana, some questions on his exercise of power are bitingly relevant. Here goes;
1- What space did the major ally in power with the PPP, referred to as the Civic Component, have; who were their leaders and what has become of those leaders since Mr. Jagdeo took power in 1999?
2- Name just one trade union that was consulted on the annual wage and salary increase since Mr. Jagdeo became president; and find out whether any salary increase proposal was ever accepted.
3- Name just one African cultural organization that agreed with the decision of the PPP Government to put the 1823 slave rebellion monument on the seawall road rather than on the very site where the rebels were executed – Parade Ground.
4- Can Jagdeo name the year and place where the PPP’s ally, the Rice Producers Association, had a free and fair election for Guyana’s rice farmers?
5- Does Mr. Jagdeo agree that given his then status as President of Guyana and the unambiguous statement from his common-law wife, Varshnie Singh, that days after the Hindu ceremony, he refused to sign the papers to make the marriage legal, that he is fit to be Leader of the Opposition?
6 – Why after fifteen years in power and with his 2018 press conference promise that if elected the PPP will help the poorer classes, he never sought to bring into being the Human Rights Commission?
7- Can Jagdeo identify which organization other than the Civic Component did he, when he was president, reach out to, so they could have been included in policy-making?
8- If Mr. Jagdeo promises space for religious and ethnic organizations if the PPP wins in 2020, can he name at least one African rights organization that openly endorsed his 15-year-old presidency?
9- Does Jagdeo feel that given the fact that the PPP wants to be in power again, that he, Jagdeo, has an obligation to explain to voters why he pardoned Philip Bynoe who was charged for treason, and why he intervened with the army’s hierarchy and promoted Rear Admiral Gary Best over the logical successors; aren’t voters entitled to know these things before they can trust Jagdeo again?
Finally, would he allow an open, free vote among PPP delegates to choose the 2020 candidate?

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Questions this ex-president must answer before 2020

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