Jagdeo’s press conferences are about grievance rather than governance

Jan 12, 2025 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Peeping Tom…

Kaieteur News- When it comes to political irony, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has ascended to a position so rarefied that one wonders if he’s vying for the title of “Unintentional Comedian of the Year.” Last Thursday, at his weekly showcase—pardon, press conference—he performed a masterclass in self-parody.

Jagdeo attempted to debunk a Kaieteur News editorial, only to prove every syllable of it painfully accurate. If it were a chess match, Jagdeo’s moves would be akin to checkmating himself.

The editorial in question accused the Vice President of wielding his press conferences as a cudgel to attack critics, particularly Kaieteur News and its publisher, Glenn Lall. It painted him as a broken record—one stuck on the Greatest Hits of Propaganda: The PNC Did It Worse, Look at My Party’s Glorious Record, and Ignore the Oil Wealth Vanishing Act. The editorial observed that critical questions are deflected with great finesse. The editorial, in short, was a scathing indictment of a man more invested in grandiloquence than governance.

So how did our embattled Vice President respond? By embodying every criticism levelled against him. In a display that could double as a tutorial in missing the point, he dedicated swathes of his “presser” to attacking Kaieteur News and Stabroek News. He even resurrected his favourite insult, labelling Kaieteur News a “rag.” His vendetta against Glenn Lall, who apparently in Jagdeo’s eyes has been transformed overnight from past friend to existential foe, is a study in political whiplash.

He seems to have forgotten that it was this same ‘rag’ that took a principled stance against election rigging in the wake of the 2020 General and Regional Elections. The newspaper’s refusal to publish discredited narratives earned praise from the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C). The PPP/C and its leaders thanked the newspaper for standing up for democracy. This stance caused fissures within the newspaper with the departure of key persons and the dropping of two op-columns that were peddling discredited and anti-democratic narratives. Ironically it is this same ‘rag’ that gives more publicity to Jagdeo’s press conferences that any other newspaper.

Yet, when Glenn Lall dared critique the sacred oil agreement or Jagdeo’s reneging on promises to renegotiate same,  the Vice President’s admiration curdled into animosity. It confirmed a view that is gaining traction each day: In Jagdeo’s worldview, loyalty must be unflinching, criticism is treason, and facts that diverge from his narrative are fiction. It’s objective truth, Jagdeo-style: where the marketplace of ideas is a one-man kiosk.

His performance, last Thursday, confirmed what many had long suspected: Jagdeo is uncomfortable with differing opinions. It also was once again proof that the PPP/C has canonized party paramountcy by conflating party with government through the hosting of a weekly press conference that blurs the lines between the two.

Jagdeo, ever the oracle of governance, spent much of his performance lambasting the APNU+AFC’s allegedly abysmal tenure. He repeatedly asserted his government’s right to compare its achievements against theirs. One might ask: Is this the metric by which the PPP/C wishes to be judged? If the APNU+AFC were so inept, shouldn’t the benchmark be higher than clearing a bar set on the floor?

Then came the pièce de résistance: his response to a straightforward question from a female reporter. The Vice President, true to form, was dismissive of her question about making public the feasibility and environmental assessment of the gas-to-shore project. Instead of answering, he launched into yet another tirade. It was a moment so gratuitously offensive that one half-expected the reporter to receive a medal for endurance.

Week after week, it is a replay of the same script. And one has to ask why does the press continue to grace these weekly theatrics with its presence? Jagdeo’s press conferences have devolved into a bizarre fusion where the lines between government and party are not just blurred but obliterated. What we’re witnessing is nothing short of a revival of the doctrine of party paramountcy. And yet, the media dutifully attends, as if hoping against hope that this week’s performance might yield something substantive.

Jagdeo, in his crusade against criticism, has unwittingly done more to validate his detractors than they could have hoped for. The man has become a caricature of the very flaws he seeks to deny. His weekly diatribes are less about governance and more about grievance.

Perhaps Jagdeo should take a moment to reflect on history. The press, as the editorial pointed out, has always been the watchdog of democracy. It’s a role that predates his tenure and will outlast it. Attacking the press may provide a fleeting sense of triumph, but it’s a losing battle in the long run. The truth, as they say, has a stubborn way of emerging—even if it must claw its way through a barrage of insults and evasions.

For now, we can only marvel at the irony. Jagdeo’s attempts to respond to criticism have amplified it. His disdain for dissent has galvanized it. If this is his strategy, one can only hope he keeps at it. After all, nothing vindicates the press quite like a politician proving them right.

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

(Jagdeo’s press conferences are about grievance rather than governance)

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• Glenn Lall, governance, grievance, Jagdeo’s press conferences, Oil Wealth Vanishing Act, Peeping Tom

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