The President must act

Jul 28, 2022 Editorial, Features / Columnists

Kaieteur News – We are left with no choice but to go straight for the jugular. Guyana’s President Ali must act with speed and authority. Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo is a drag on his leadership efforts, his record as a president. The President has his own sources, and does not need any assistance from us in this regard, but we still give him the boost. The Vice President is undoing his works, threatening to unsettle his presence at the top of Guyana’s political ladder.

Talk to any Guyanese, including staunch supporters of this PPP/C Government, and there are deep suspicions, many admissions, surrounding the Vice President. More and more Guyanese are simply blown away by the endless list of ills placed on the head of the Vice President, and whatever goes on the head of the former President automatically ends up smearing the head of the current President. When even committed loyalists of the party have reached this stage, and could admit to this publicly but carefully, then matters have gone very far, indeed. This is not helpful to any government, it is not uplifting for any leader, and this is assuming the best of circumstances. If this is so where PPP/C Government supporters are concerned, it is left to the imagination of what could be the thinking, the conclusions, about the Vice President in the minds of those not part of the party, as well as foreigners present in this country.

It is never a good time for something so big to take place anywhere. At this time when Guyana is the centre of attention and interest of the whole world, this is the worst possible development that could visit here. We are not focusing on what the Chinese have alleged, for this was common knowledge across the length and breadth of this country. It is so widespread that people who weren’t even in the know did know, but due to the powerful reach of the Vice President, himself a former President of many years, many took shelter under the protection of discretion. Now in what is possibly the best of times for Guyana, with an uninterrupted shower of energy and money being poured into this country, there is this dark shadow and huge monstrosity with the name of the Vice President written over it, as alleged.

This is the worst blot that could happen to the young President Ali. It is a big blot and at a most inconvenient time. Unsurprisingly, the President in his own display of undying loyalty has stepped up energetically to stand by the side of his embattled Vice President. We at this paper caution that the odds are there for what is swirling over the Vice President to trap and tumble down the President. From our perspective, President Ali is left with two simple, but very difficult, choices. The first is that he sticks blindly and rashly with his Vice President, which has all the elements of rebounding to his discredit. Or the President could be bold and principled enough to cut the cord that binds him to the Vice President, and leave him to sink or swim on his own merits.

Also, we note that the Guyana delegation invited by the US that is led by the President includes the Vice President. On the one hand, this makes for a lot of sense, since the Vice President as a former national leader has a very good grasp of how Guyana operates. Moreover, he has also been put in charge of the nation’s massive new oil wealth, which comes with its own long history of temptations and leadership failures. Oil must necessarily be part of the agenda, and this means that the Vice President features conspicuously. On the other hand, it could be that the Americans have in mind some straight talk about the Chinese and their allegations, with subtle messages and pressures indicated to the President. That is, some house cleaning is mandatory, and that if the Vice President has to go, then he must go, and there must be no two ways about it.

The ball is now in President Ali’s court, and he must show that he has the stuff befitting a national leader.

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