Khemraj Ramjattan has given President Bharrat Jagdeo further incentive to continue, in his own unique style, to campaign hard to put the PPP/C back in power. Some of the reasons we already know. If the PPP/C wins Jagdeo will have to stop being President but then he becomes a key PPP ‘engine room’ figure. The sweat is already glistening on his face at the hustings. The man is already stoking the boiler.
And of course if the PPP wins Mr. Jagdeo will fancy his chances of having a second tilt at the presidency. Once, it seems, is not enough. He cannot, however, become President again if the PPP is unseated. So he must soldier on.
There are other reasons why Mr. Jagdeo simply cannot afford to stop his cheerleading for the PPP/C’s re-election; reasons that have nothing at all to do with either the PPP/C or the presidency. These are personal reasons, considerations of self-interest.
Ramjattan has already signaled Jagdeo that if the AFC were to get its hands on power it would repeal the Benefits and Other Facilities legislation under which it says Mr. Jagdeo can sit at home and twiddle his thumbs and rake in a good deal more pension in a day than does the owner of a medium-sized business. Mind you, the man does not have to ‘turn a straw,’ – so to speak. He simply turns up at the Ministry of Finance like any pensioner would to collect his small piece. It’s a long way for a good, loyal PPP member with a Patrice Lumumba University degree to travel.
Those millions in presidential pension raise some searching questions about the kind of society we are…a hefty portion of the working age population unemployed, poverty rampant like tadpoles in rainy season and one man, one-ex-president, one PPP ex-president runnin’ with more pension in one day than the monthly pay of three security guards. The other thing of course is that most security guards have half a dozen or so dependents. How many dependents does Mr. Jagdeo have? …and what about this business of equitable distribution of wealth which is supposed to be part of the creed of the PPP.
Just how comfortable Mr. Jagdeo is likely to be in his Pradoville ‘Palace’- which, if the picture that is being circulated is to believed, bears an uncanny resemblance to a sprawling California mansion- under a government not of the PPP’s making is another matter. No light bill, no water bill, no phone bill, guards, household staff, gardener, chauffeur; Good heavens! Somebody should work out whether or not it isn’t cheaper to let him simply going on being president!