Leaders who have lost it

Oct 12, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – There comes a time when we all have to move on. It is time US President Joe Biden takes his leave – a graceful exit would save him and his group some face. Former US President Donald Trump should not entertain a single thought that involves leadership of any kind, especially that of the Chief Executive of the United States. Right here in Guyana, former President Bharrat Jagdeo should be out of any leadership picture, any conversation that is focused on what is right for Guyanese.

The difficulty is that none of these three national leaders have given any signal that they are ready to relinquish the reins of power. Their lusts for power, being at the center of it, having as much of it as possible in their hands, keep them riveted where they are: fighting for it, or maintaining their stranglehold on it. The other difficulty, and it is a considerable one worthy of much weight, is that there are swarms of diehards in their respective populations that swear by them, are inseparable from them, notwithstanding their blatant failures.

Take President Biden, as the first example. This American is pushing 80, but he is hanging on for 2024, and God knows what else is in store for him and America, and not to forget the wider world. Currently, his immigration policy has left major US cities in tatters, and communities under siege. His energy policy is a hodgepodge of contradictions, and there is the ongoing partisan warfare between the White House and the Republican-led House of Representatives, which holds spending hostage, and citizens dejected at the outlook for both topnotch leadership and dependable governance. Taking this small snapshot of troubles, and leaving out President Biden’s family darkness, in which he is neck-deep, this leader should be saying his farewells, and readying to ride off into the sunset. But he is sticking around and hanging on, as though America’s progress would be stalled without him.

An even worse nightmare is that of former President Trump, who is alleged to be no better than a common lawbreaker, but still burns with ambition for a return to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The position of many, and ours also, is that this one-time global leader really belongs in places where movement is limited, and not the Executive Suite. In shades that should stir Guyanese, Trump has had allegations of serious misconduct, bringing the presidency into disrepute, and manipulations involving frauds all attached to his name. While he fights legal battles to stay afloat, he is still laying parallel tracks to stay at the head of the pack for another stint in the White House. For whatever reason, nativist bigotry or the sputtering economy or the decline of America’s global hegemony, tens of millions in the US population are firmly in his corner, and got his back. In other words, his electoral upside looks unmatched in the field of potential competitors. His delusions and paranoias, the ugly and warped side of this leader, do not count for anything at all. Instead of going his way, he is staying, and making sure all and sundry are aware.

In Guyana, citizens have their own misgivings and alarms about former President Jagdeo. According to his upside-down worldview, right is wrong and wrong is right. His record is that anything that has to do with money is saturated with questions, doubts, suspicions, and fears about the worst. On the nation’s vital oil patrimony, Guyanese now have to deal with a national leader who is a non-white version of Darren Woods and Alistair Routledge: he is more for ExxonMobil than Guyana. In fact, it could be asserted with a significant degree of accuracy that Jagdeo is now more ExxonMobil than ExxonMobil itself. Rather than wrap himself in the Golden Arrowhead, he is proud to dress himself in the Star-Spangled Banner, leaving many Guyanese to ask why this leader is still in the thick of things, if not totally in charge. After all the failures and disgraces, Jagdeo should go, and count his years and their rewards. The two aged Americans should do similarly.

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Bharrat Jagdeo, Editorial, Guyanese, President, Trump

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