Dear Editor,
The Jagdeo Juggernaut is on a post election roll. After attacking the private sector repeatedly over VAT, then the churches over the Casino Bill (through Minister Rohee), the government has now moved to the press. Let there be no mistake, the withdrawal of advertisements from the Stabroek News is a direct and vindictive assault on freedom of the press, Mrs. Jagan’s protest to the contrary notwithstanding. Starving the Stabroek News of advertisements is very much like starving the Mirror of newsprint even though the impact of the latter was more direct and immediate. Mrs. Jagan is unable to accept that anyone associated with the PPP, like President Jagdeo, would dream of inhibiting press freedom after its own history with the PNC’s suppression of the Mirror. Thus she rejects the charge that the government is attacking freedom of the press.
The stark reality is that Mrs. Jagan has not or is unable to come to terms with what the PPP, which she helped to create, has spawned.
Mrs. Jagan’s public disagreement with the government’s actions is proof positive of the discordance within the leadership of the PPP and between the leadership and President Jagdeo which was hinted at in a recent editorial of Stabroek News.
Why did Mrs. Jagan go public if the PPP had discussed the matter and arrived at a position? And why hasn’t the PPP discussed a statement?
Several potential answers come to mind, namely; the PPP has discussed the matter, is in support of the decision and Mrs Jagan disagrees; the PPP has discussed the matter, is against the decision, is unwilling to go against the government in public and Mrs. Jagan has done so on its behalf; the PPP has not discussed the matter either because it is embarrassed or because it is under the control or domination of President Jagdeo. Unless the PPP speaks we will never know.
One thing is certain: President Jagdeo’s response to Mrs. Jagan that, in effect, she must mind her own business, is a clear signal to her, the PPP and the public, that the post election Jagdeo will give short shrift and pay little attention to the views of the PPP or any of its leaders. If the PPP remains silent in response to the President’s insult of its matriarch, it will signal that it accepts the clear ascendancy and authority of its new maximum leader.
Mrs. Jagan will understand that the PPP leadership has been severely weakened and subverted by the Jagdeo Juggernaut.
It is to be seen whether she can or will do anything about it.
The suppression of the Mirror from the late 1960s and the 20-year legal and political battles which the PPP and others had to fight for press freedom started about the time when President Jagdeo was born. While these battles were raging he was far away from the action at school and later at Lumumba University.
He may know of that era but he is not temperamentally connected to it and, therefore, it does not influence his actions.
President Jagdeo’s lack of personal experience and historical perspective of the PPP’s role in the securing of press freedom preclude him from appreciating the consequences of his government’s action or how it will be perceived.
He is unable to understand the depth of feeling of Claimont Lye and thousands of independent people like him who displayed courage and made sacrifices in the struggle for freedom in Guyana, a struggle in which he played no role.
Unless his government reviews its decision and the PPP takes a stand on the matter and the insult to Mrs. Jagan, we will all be in for a rough ride over the next five years and the esteem in which President Jagdeo, the PPP and Guyana are held will diminish and erode over time, not to mention the return of authoritarian rule, PPP style.
Yours faithfully,
James Hannah
