Bursting the Bharrat Jagdeo bubble

Mar 04, 2024 News, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – It is always a painful duty to engage in self-correction.  It is that time for me.  It has to do with that illustrious son of Guyana, one Bharrat Jagdeo.  I will do my best to be kind and gentle.

I have had many warm discussions with others on the issue of whether he is the smartest one in the room.  My contention was that he qualified to be above all competition head and shoulders definitely for the laurel of being among the most cunning one anywhere.  Epiphany arrived.  To be the most cunning, some smarts must be in the mix, and that I willingly gift to Jagdeo.  Sometimes some is won, less are lost.

The question still sticks: how much does he really know, authentic?  How much about him is bluff and bluster?  What does this say about him, other than someone all hollow in width and shallow in depth.  When he takes stock, he comes tone overdue conclusion.  The game is up, and his own people see through his antics and histrionics. Thus, he scrapes the bottom of his barren, mental barrel, and delivers terms like rate of return and equilibrium.  Beginner’s fluff, bruddah.  Fewer and fewer natives are impressed. His knowledge base is erected on froth and fluff.  They see him for what he is made of, his emptiness.  Being the cunning character that he is, Jagdeo goes on the offensive to revile (objectors) and incite (supporters), to defend what cannot be defended.  Ignorance inspires instigations, it is said.

In ascribing some level of smarts to the Vice President, a former president, a former Minister of Finance, a former self-anointed champion oil czar, and now self-selected chief national policymaker, I came to a tough crossroads: at what point does his pretensions to knowledge stop, and when and where does his possession of actual knowledge begin.  In high finance and statistics?  In economics?  In basic arithmetic?  He is asked a question about oil spill insurance, and he transforms into a juggler (millions, then billions; but no proof, and no Guyanese any the wiser).  Ask him about regulations and reports, and Jagdeo seesaws like some trapeze dancer (check with EPA and GRA).  Never mind that some whisper directs those agencies to seal lips and give nobody nothing. Please, my fellow Guyanese, overlook the Brooklynese.

Further, have the audacity to put Exxon under the spotlight before Jagdeo, and he turns into a phantom (proven escape artist) right before the eyes.  Like that comic strip character, Mandrake the Magician, Jagdeo goes into his version of ‘the ghost who walks in the middle of the day.’  To the skeptical, I suggest listening to him and how he answers oil governance questions at his Thursday press conferences.  Press conferences are my English Language contribution to charity, for they have deteriorated to nothing but what is pure political pornography.  It is a leader performing for his watching and listening audience.  Press conferences, hell!  The man is not into answering inquiries but verbalizing unembarrassed efforts at titillating.

The more Jagdeo jiggles and wiggles to run porous interferences for Exxon, the more he comes across as a cheap country bully.  Standup to the big bad man, and he melts into a slick pool on the floor; even in a collapsed state, Jagdeo is still slipperier than an eel.  I have heard about his lengthy, tricky legacy of failed projects, but those are on me.  I should have consulted with Guyanese on my rush of generosity; at the end of the day, it is their tax money.  One of the VP’s chief policy decisions is to make the mistake of playing games with people who are ready to face him down before the entire Guyanese public.  Guess who?  Get out of hand and some are ready to go mano a mano. Rogue cops or none.  Phantom forces or not.  I recall that long-ago pitching star of the Boston Red Sox (no spelling error), Pedro Martinez. He would hurl a thunderbolt at a batter’s head, and when the benches cleared, Pedro was well on the way to Santo Domingo.  He started fights, then sneaked away, and let others do the fighting.  When I study Jagdeo, I see the disappearing Martinez hiding in some closet, and leaving others to mix it up.  That’s Big Boss Jagdeo,the wizard of ooze and abuse.

Here is more confirmation about Jagdeo.  His clothes are filled with holes.  His policy postures are like donuts.  His oil gimmicks remind many of mildewed and wood ant infested material.  He compels cringing.  Jagdeo has made an artificial living with intellectual farces. His gig is now up.  The only people still clinging to him are those who draw a paycheck from the treasury. They design and spread fake news via state channels, and friendly private ones.  What a way to make a living, to feed the grandchildren and one man’s ego. Indeed, it is a most pitiful thing to watch a joker lose his punch lines and end up being a punching bag.  Jagdeo’s aura of self-promoted invincibility has been punctured.  Just look at him.  He has no use for himself, and neither do the longsuffering people of this long-fooled nation.

 

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• Beginner’s fluff, bruddah, check with EPA and GRA, Jagdeo, Magician, millions, then billions

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