Dear Editor,
The imminent entrance of the PPP to Parliament with Mr Jagdeo as the Opposition Leader will signal the last gasp of the political aspirations of our former president, who, when this parliamentary session is over in 5 years, will seek re-election and lose convincingly, thus closing out a political career which will leave no real legacy, no real accomplishments and certainly, no real admiration and respect from the Guyanese nation as a whole.
The politics of desperation and hostility are already in motion, starting on the day of their loss to the coalition and claims they were cheated, the boycotting of parliament and the press conferences where the peddling of lies became a common occurrence. Mr Jagdeo and his chosen henchmen who will enter Parliament and those who will stay in Freedom House, are all united in protecting their political turf at all costs while demoting any ‘Jaganites’ who despise the tactics of Mr Jagdeo and blame him for the PPP’s historic defeat at the recent polls. Mr Jagdeo and his cohorts are painting a picture to their supporters of the new government being involved in ethnic and racial preferences in job placements and developmental policies across the country in order to bait their traditional support base with the same old mantras which have been served up time and time again. For example, they say that we will have to use rice flour again or that the economy will collapse soon or that local elections will be rigged, etc,etc, even to personal insults, like Rohee’s insulting reference to President Granger.
Editor, the current leaders of the PPP, instigated by Mr Jagdeo and his particular style of political behaviour, cannot fathom the end of their hold on power and thus their frantic crying out which they hope will influence their mainly East Indian supporters. But as time passes and positive results derive from good governance by the APNU+AFC coalition, the carping and bellyaching by the PPP leadership will resonate much less amongst their traditional supporters and leave Mr Jagdeo with tremendous problems come the next elections, problems which will be compounded by apparent splits in the PPP; increasing the difficulty in raising money, especially in the diaspora. There will be personnel deficiencies as cadres drift away to sustain their families; problems explaining their (PPP leaders) opulent lifestyles to their poor supporters; and lastly, presenting to the citizens of Guyana a list of their leaders who are not the same old ones we see now, who lack vision and delivered nothing much when they were in power and who have really outlived their usefulness.
Editor, Mr Jagdeo thinks that he can turn back history and he will understand soon enough that only great persons can succeed in turning back history, and he is certainly not one of them. He had his chance to create history in Guyana in 1999, when he became President with goodwill within and outside Guyana, but he chose the other course of majoritarian rule and personal aggrandizement, factors which directly led to the PPP’s downfall. It is now too late to reverse history because the collective memory of the masses of Guyanese citizens will never forget the mistakes he made, the venom in his arguments and the greed he spread throughout Jagan’s party, a party which was supposed to be honest and moral. It is now too late in the political arena for Mr Jagdeo, and his leadership of the PPP will spell certain failure in the elections to come ‒ that is for sure.
Yours faithfully,
Cheddi (Joey) Jagan (Jr)
