Dear Editor,
The letter in SN by Dr Joey Jagan dated January 27 titled ‘Letters and columns are off the mark’ comes from a man whose father was the legendary ‘Bapu’ to many in the Indian-Guyanese community and a working class giant for all Guyanese. Joey Jagan’s defence of his father is understandable, and although some of his assertions may spring questions it is his attempt to distinguish and separate the PPP from Cheddi Jagan and by extension Janet Jagan, that raises consternation and energizes the most questions. In fact, a number of letter writers and academics have attempted to stridently promulgate that dialysis in light of the rising tide of the PPP’s growing affinity with corruption, incompetence, immorality and the vices of political ignominy and perversion. Despite the attempts to highlight the partition, this remains true: the People’s Progressive Party in its every form, shape, metamorphosis and construct remains Cheddi Jagan and Janet Jagan’s greatest legacy. Their imprint, handprint and genetic code remain all over the PPP. They built this political monument, shaped its course, directed its movement, handpicked many of its leaders who remain in the upper reaches of its power, blueprinted its organization, instilled its values, created its mandate, steered its policy and were its guiding light and dominant source of inspiration and strength. The PPP is as Cheddi and Janet Jagan as it gets.
Some will say that the influence of the Jagans is no longer present to fight the vices that encroach. Since 1992, under the watchful eyes of both Jagans, the party started down its path of malfeasance when it went from an entity in impoverished isolation to being handed the keys to the war chest. Power and money commenced its corruption under the helm of both Jagans and snowballed from there. From a party founded on the principles of fairness, justice and dedication to the nation, it watched the nation’s sovereignty wither away to the growing cadre of drug kingpins and criminal overlords. It also watched some of its own move from men on bicycles to chauffeured and pampered public servants riding in luxurious SUVs and building mansions reaching for the sky.
Cheddi and Janet Jagan were decent, upright and honest people committed to helping poor people in this country. They were also dogged communists fixated with an idealism of party paramountcy and organizational control. This is why we have the mess known as the PPP now. The Jagans served the party but also retained the greatest say and command in its affairs. Their biggest flaw was putting party and ideology before morality, decency, competency and what is fundamentally right in selecting and affiliating with people. We are left with the terrible results. The crooks, charlatans, inept and the morally bankrupt and political soup-lickers found a place of acceptance once they served the party with distinction. Mass migration, defections and resignations from political life did not help the PPP during its time in the wilderness as it struggled to maintain its political identity and its leadership. For those left, faults were overlooked, foibles met with a blind eye, character slippages brushed aside, incompetence conveniently forgotten and lack of skill and brainpower shoved under the carpet. A lot of willing toilers who diligently put shoulders to the plough were the men who stayed while the thinkers thought about leaving and actually left rather than work the fields of a political wasteland. The toilers and charlatans and those prone to skullduggery were rewarded when the light of freedom came.
The current structure and form of the PPP remain the Jagans’ legacy.
Divorcing the Jagans from the PPP is not going to work, no matter how advantageous it is to many supporters who are recognizably upset with the PPP at present. The corruption is greater than it was under Bapu and his wife. The incompetence is more staggering now than then. The square pegs in round holes proliferate more now than then. However, the fundamental system and generators remain the same. The production of corruption and other profligacy has just increased. Just like Cheddi Jagan, his wife and a select few essentially handpicked the future leaders; the same will be done at Freedom House and rubber stamped for the next elections. Just like some staunch supporters remained in their positions and some were shifted around despite lingering questions about their ethical fitness during Cheddi and Janet’s reign, the same continues on a greater level. Just like narcotic trafficking reared its ugly head when Cheddi and Janet were alive and was not destroyed, it rages on and threatens to consume the nation. The Burnham constitution with its virtually unlimited power was never changed by Cheddi or Janet Jagan. A cursory glance at the PPP Central Committee reflects the prevailing influence of the old guard that still directs the ethnically driven and self-centric charge of the party. Joey Jagan may be in denial, but there is a struggle within the PPP between the old guard and the new guard. The problem is that both groups are flawed to the core. The old guard fights to maintain the system created by Cheddi and Janet Jagan while the new guard wants to shape its own new system out of this old dilapidated system. Picking sides is perilous and useless and should not be done for one’s moral health. The question is: is it better to go with the devil you know than the devil you don’t know that is to be created in the future? This den of iniquity was engorged on the organization and philosophy created by the Jagans. After all those years studying the derelict PNC, you would think these guys learned something good.
Yours faithfully,
Michael Maxwell
