From Molotov cocktails to meddlers in elections – Jagdeo’s mercies 

Jun 26, 2025 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Hard Truths column…

Kaieteur News – Bharrat Jagdeo can be a man of god. I really believe so.  Regarding which god would actually accept him, well, that’s another story, beyond my capabilities.  Of all the citizens in this topsy-turvy country, imagine Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, a man of long spells in various offices and longer records of an extraordinary kind, is flush with the milk of human kindness.

If I were an atheist before, a true believer I am now.  Think of this: Bharrat the abuser, now filling the shoes of Bharrat the forgiver.  His history in this regard is illustrious, worth going over, if only to give the man the jacket due.  It is dyed scarlet, which has scriptural significance.  And they say that he hails from a place called Unity?  Fitting, just fitting.

There was the last Local Government Elections interval, and Bharrat the Forgiver reaching with welcoming arms for the likes of a former Mayor of the Garden City.  Not the one in Long Island, New York, but what was once the proud title of Georgetown, Guyana.  The dogs have since taken over, and I don’t mean the running streams of foreigners, as once so lavishly praised by that Chinese gent, Zhou-en-lai.  If Master Forgiver Jagdeo could let bygones be bygones for a PNC mayor, then anybody and everybody could qualify for the big man’s cup that overflows with mercy.  It has to, since some suspected murderers, predators, abusers and stalkers hold pride of place high in Big Government.  Forgiveness in Li’l government and forgiveness in Big Government can’t beat.  Who can beat Dr. Jagdeo?  It is why those who can’t beat him jump ship into his warm embrace.  Jeez! I am getting sick.  Feeling sicker is my lot today, as now shared.

There were those who once numbered among Cheddi Jagan and the PPP’s most notorious haters and revilers.  And where are they today?  Whoever guessed high up in the PPP Government and among the intimate companions of Dr. BJ just won another 10,000 free airline miles.  Make sure it’s American.  Look at how forgiving General Secretary and President-Director Jagdeo is.  There were those whom I describe as motorbike Molotov cocktail hurlers; their preferred targets were Jagan’s allies.  Thanks to Jagdeo’s merciful benevolence, the old Molotov cocktail mixers and hurlers have assumed new identities under the PPP.  They are now Molotov cocktail hurlers and curlers of the epistolary variety deep inside the elevated confines of the PPP Government.  Isn’t that divine?  I am proud of my little brother Bharrat- such grandness, such willingness to forgive and forget.  He should consult with old PPP heads living in Richmond Hill and Cypress Hills, and any stray ones in Dix Hills for more details.

Moreover, since Mr. Jagdeo is reported by his awed worshippers to speak many languages simultaneously, I am positive that he understands what I mean by past motorcycle Molotov cocktail hurlers who devastated PPP loyalists.  He should consult with PPP luminaries, such as Excellencies Ramkarran, Ramotar, and Rohee, for elaboration.  Guyana once had a string band called Dem Guys; everywhere they played, brawls erupted.  It should ring a bell.  I give Dr. Jay still another nudge, so that he cannot hide behind failure of recall, or pretended ignorance.  He used to occupy an office where former motorcycle Molotov cocktail bombers are now well-situated.  I like this version of Bharrat J: Those who are with me, I declare holy.  Those who stand against, I damn them, unleash the dogs against them, spear them, then barbeque them.  If that sounds cannibalistic, Freedom House has a voucher waiting.

Last, election riggers (allegedly) were once denounced as the most reprehensible, those who sought to derail the Guyana democracy train.  Today, even those from the dens of election riggers are now on the good side of BJ.  I believe that Jagdeo doesn’t know god, has no time for god, yet thinks that he’s god.  There may be something to the latter.  Who in Guyana, besides myself, has been exemplary in living that commandment of commandments?  Love thine enemy.  Jagdeo went further: he rolls out the red carpet for them, gives them duty-free concessions, provides security coverage for them, and refocuses their minds on the here and now, what is in the interests of the PPP.  That is, BJ’s interests.  He doesn’t even have to say: ‘sic ‘em, boys; go get ‘em girls, and they are off.  In today’s climate of understanding and accommodation, one never knows who is boy, who is girl.  Regardless, all are welcome by the forgiver of past transgressions, as long as they comply fully with new ones.  The commandments of Bharrat Jagdeo.  Name the leader, Christian, Hindu, or Buddhist, who possesses such a merciful, cherishing state of mind.  Bharrat, my brother, Jagdeo, his brother’s keeper.  Bharrat Jagdeo, the forgiver.  It’s enough to make me weep.

(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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• Cheddi Jagan, elections 2025, GHK Lall, hard truths, PPP

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