Taking Jagdeo at his word, but dissecting first

Sep 13, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – There has never been a time that I have taken the majestic Bharrat Jagdeo at his word and not regretted the recklessness of my adventurousness nature. The pain over foolish confidence vested in the former president, current Vice President, standing chief policymaker, cunning political operator, and brother (not necessarily in that order) has troubled.  Yet, here I am, about to do the same again.  In this instance, it has to do with amendments to the Cybercrime Act. No targeting of social media commentators.  Dr. Jagdeo said so, so it should be so.  That is, until one gets to know the real Bharrat Jagdeo.  He is a psychiatrist, criminologist, neurologist, and pathologist dream.  Of what has the potential for good; of what has some other potential that prompts donning a suit of armour.

For clarity, I am not a social media commentator, and have no social media account.  None; unless WhatsApp counts or sharing in public online programmes are.  The reality is of what I write in mainstream media.  Hence, Jagdeo should clarify why PPP Government agents target me, if that is part of this strange belief system.  If I were as honest as Dr. Jagdeo or Dr. Ali (and both put together), there could be some understanding.  But mine is not that kind of honesty.  The problem for Dr. Jagdeo is that he knows this; so, his bosom comrades do what is required to keep government and party and leadership honour (such as all three are) to attack those who speak freely, frankly, and fearlessly.  Get used to it, Comrade Jagdeo.  In a real democracy, people like me shouldn’t need protection from any for speaking freely.  The records stand: mine, his. and what PPP Government agents have delivered.

“Now we believe in free media, we believe in people freely expressing their views on the internet.”  If nothing else, Jagdeo has grown into a good storyteller.  “We believe.”  Since when has he believed in anything, other than what thrives in the dark, amid what is decayed and disastrous for this country?  I tender that what Jagdeo “believes” is the belief of an atheist, a poltergeist, a contortionist.  That is, nothing, but what serves his own interests. Since he is so much a believer in people freely expressing their views on the wide open, unpoliced internet, then it follows that he believes in the same for contributors in the independent media.  So, why are some targeted and vilified by the worst of PPP Government detritus, Mr. Jagdeo for utilizing that same freedom?  I am raising my hand again and staring at him in the face.  I should spit, but those days have long departed.  Why, Mr. National Protector Jagdeo, are those covert operators conducting surveillance on me, a citizen as law-abiding, if not more, than he himself, His Excellency, and the AG together?  If there is this so-called belief in “free media”, Sir Jagdeo, please explain the agitations, the acrimonies, and revulsions coming out of intimate PPP Government quarters against those who participate honesty and openly in his “free media?”  it would be helpful if he explains why so many Guyanese are so fearful of speaking their mind, of expressing a dissenting view, in the public media.

For Dr. Jagdeo’s edification, I remind him of that truism: those who practice deceiving eventually lose sight, lose touch, with what represents the whole truth.  In time, they are unable to recognize truth itself, even a kernel, so immersed they have become in a culture of deviousness.  The Germans and Russians made an art form of that way of life, standard of leadership.  I will gift him a mirror for Christmas, which should be of inestimable value to a man of his great resourcefulness. To make comforting speeches has become the easiest thing in the world for Jagdeo, with President Ali a step ahead of him.  I urge fellow citizens to study the verbal terrain, where the artificial and what is rhetorically pleasingly, have assumed the trappings of the scriptural.  As real believers in the various faiths know, there are different kinds of scripture, including those dismissed as apocryphal.  It doesn’t call for any special insight to determine what kind Jagdeo and Ali are about.  Both say anything for the public record.  On the surface, it usually has a ring of the impressive, often what is about the inspiring.  The naïve and gullible fall for slick leadership salesmanship.  The sensible stand disgusted, even contemptuous.  Because freedom of expression, as represented honestly and daringly, has always been a tormenting consideration for the PPP, as political entity, as national government.  Whatever form either takes, its record (the one hidden just below the surface) is so riddled with dishonesty and skullduggery, roguery and lack of integrity, that few in the party are untouched by the stench of malfeasance.  Because there is so much to hide, and so many living skeletons to protect, the dominant belief in the different rooms of government and party is that constitutional freedoms must be suppressed in nuanced ways.  Block from state media.  Attack through government functionaries operating anonymously on social media.

So, when Jagdeo digs up this drivel about “we believe in free media” it is reflective of his curious beliefs, and his curiouser relationship with truth.  The result is that those disagreeing with what passes for governments truths and standards (and with him) know what it is to be on the receiving end of PPP rage and efforts at intimidating into silence.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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• confidence, Cybercrime Act, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, GHK Lall, Vice President

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