Dear Editor,
Of all the places that Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo is deboned, it is through a UN creature. A committee dedicated to human rights. The alarm for loyal Guyanese should not be only over the embarrassments piled on the PPP, as a government and as a party, or the man who is the General Secretary. It is about who led the charge about allegations of corruption and Jagdeo, and what that says. It is the curtain parted ever so slightly, with this nation given a peek as to where things stand at high elevations. Jagdeo is at the center of stage and storm, he cuts a derelict figure. I pity him.
What has the government done about those allegations involving Guyana’s Vice President? The questioner was an American nominee. Neither the man nor his interest nor the object of his inquiry are accidental. Guyanese should take note of that, particularly the PPP. Similarly, the female interrogator who brought up that sickening matter involving allegations from a Chinese businessman and encircling Jagdeo was also not accidental. America, oh America. Are Guyanese paying attention? Is the PPP listening, actually hearing what these Yankees are saying? Since everyone is pretending at denseness, then the heavy duty falls on me.
The Yankees are terribly unhappy with the PPP Government. Too much corruption (that dirty word again), too much uncleanness in governance. More specifically, the Americans are unhappy with Jagdeo. Jagdeo has become baggage. Ancient allegations of corruption against a former national leader, but now an even greater powerhouse, do not find their way into a UN forum dedicated to Human Rights. But they were: slaps on the face of man and government, people and country. There could not have been a bigger, broader audience. Who didn’t know before, know now. Who didn’t care earlier, had better care now. Jagdeo is spoilt goods. I pain for the man. My history has been of having to feel sorry for those who have borne false witness against me. There is no joy, only regrets that a man who had everything going for him, could have done so much, went down the path that he chose.
Jagdeo’s first responder, the no less Minister Teixeira, only made matters worse. She didn’t put her foot in her mouth; she put her mouth in an unmentionable place. Nobody did anything. So, the police couldn’t do ‘nuttin’. Where do Guyana get people like these from, and then put them where they are? How do they last so long? Must be the culture. Must be weather, environment, and mores too. It is time to wrap this up. I cautioned Jagdeo: going overboard to do right by Exxon has its pluses. But America is hearing about all that has gone wrong here under the Jagdeo-Ali tag team. Institutions politicized. Citizens pulverized. Standards minimized. A PPP supporter from the East Coast Demerara said it better than I ever can: “dem maan dis cum bak in deh and de moh baad dan b4”. He said it, not me. And lest Guyanese forget, there was that pesky, relentless fellow at the UN asking those punishing questions about the PPP Government and Jagdeo. Indeed, there is a time for everything. For Jagdeo, it is a time to weep.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
