Mr. Jagdeo, more than any other Guyanese politician, knows corruption, cronyism and thievery when he sees it. For twelve consecutive years he was mired in the putrefying stench of embezzlement and gross dishonesty, Therefore, I totally and completely believe him when he says that the Parking Meter deal is designed to fund the PNC’s political campaign. Jagdeo knows a rat when he smells one. Jagdeo knows that the Granger-led administration is using the parking meter to rob the tax payers and fun their campaign. That is exactly what the PPP did when they were in power.
The Berbice Bridge embezzlement scheme that the taxpayers are now subsidizing, is one such parallel. That single project saw billions of dollars going into the coffers of Jagdeo’s friends. They are still blinking the country by tens of millions of dollars every year. The Marriott Hotel is another such scheme. The tax payers lost billions of dollars that went into the pockets of the cronies of the PPP. Please be reminded that for all the millions spent, that project is still incomplete. Then we have the failed Amelia Falls Project, which saw another set of money, amounting to tens of billions, being directly funneled into the bank accounts of those favored by my Jagdeo.
So I honestly believe Jagdeo when he says that the Granger-led administration is engaging is the same kinds of dishonest behaviors as the PPP. Not because you have a dislike for a person it means that the person is always wrong. Even a fool could be right sometimes. So this time, Jagdeo is correct in his observation. What the United Republican Party (URP) would like you to note, is that the two parties are playing the Guyanese people for fools.
Jadgeo just about run this country off the Transparency International scale with the rampant corruption that was taking place under his watch. Guyana is the worse Caribbean country, based on every single index that is used to gauge countries. We are always the most corrupt, the least transparent and the most backwards of our Caribbean neighbors. This has been Guyana’s legacy for almost as long as we were an independent nation. Hands down, our politicians are the biggest thieves in the Caribbean. However, during the Jagdeo’s reign, we got seismically worse.
Therefore what Jagdeo is doing, in highlighting Granger’s crookedness, is political genius. If Jagdeo fingers Granger, then his own crookishness becomes less blatant than Granger’s crookishness. The fact is that none of these political figures can honestly declare that either is innocent of the charges against them. Jagdeo is noting the BK trickery, Norton’s Bond fraud, the Jubilee Park scam, the Fiber optic Cable deceit and the ever mounting cases of direct robbery of the citizens of this country. And he (Jagdeo), is just annoyed that the PNC has their hands on the levers that allow them to get the kinds of kickbacks that the PPP was accustomed to.
So the interest that Jagdeo is showing, by highlighting the Granger-led administration’s current behavious, is not born out of patriotism or out of some genuine concern for the people of Guyana. What Jagdeo is doing is creating a situation for the PNC-Coalition to be adjudged as, just as corrupt as the PPP. Then the elections will not be on the issues facing Guyana but rather on who is more corrupt than whom. The PPP lost largely because they are a corrupt party. If Jagdeo can show that the PNC-Coalition is also as corrupt, then he stands a real chance of getting his hands back on the country’s money.
Does any Guyanese really think that the PPP and the PNC-Coalition are any different? Does any Guyanese really believe that these two parties have the full development of the country at heart? Most of the Guyanese politicians are not a bunch of self-serving autocrats? The URP believes that Guyana and Guyanese deserve better. These two parties have proven that they cannot be allowed to operate without parliamentary checks and balances. They have proven that none of them will do right by Guyana. Administratively, it is not in their nature.
Press Release: Friday, February 24, 2017
The PNC-Coalition has a right to be very fearful about the Court Of Appeal (COA) ruling last week. The reason they are trembling is because they are doing to the country exactly what Jagdeo and the PPP said they did to the voters: they are ignoring them. Now Jagdeo and the PPP have been traversing the country apologizing to their supporters and the country. And though reluctantly, the PPP followers and some other citizens seem to be willing to forgive Jagdeo for his unforgivable misdeeds. He has also recently won the leadership of his party and is now the General Secretary, which positions him to be the next PPP presidential candidate.
So the decision by former Chief Justice Ian Chang’s, ruling that the two-term presidential limit is unconstitutional and the upholding of that ruling by the COA, play right into Mr. Jagdeo’s hands. It is undoubted that Mr. Jagdeo is the single most powerful political and racists, leader in Guyana. And while President David Granger had the opportunity of competing for the status of being a powerful leader, he and his Coalition are doing so badly at keeping their promises and managing the Country, that he has squandered his opportunity to provide any significant rivalry to Jagdeo.
Once on the political ropes after losing two consecutive national elections, Mr. Jagdeo has been awarded with a second breath, and maybe a second attempt at the Presidency, because of the mammoth failures of the PNC-Coalition. Jagdeo only remains relevant because the Granger-led administration has failed and utterly disappointed the Guyanese citizenry. Additionally, the COA has framed the appeal as a constitutional matter, thus making any appeal to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) by the current administration, an uphill task. It is not likely that a court comprising of foreign jurists will rule on the constitutionality of a national matter, if only because the precedent would be far reaching and might even affect political decisions in the countries in which they reside. I believe that the CCJ will refer the matter back to the COA and the matter will be stayed.
However, what is of significant note is the notion that Mr. Jagdeo is rumored to have intentions of running again as the President of Guyana. Which begs the question, Are there no other figures in the PPP that the Central Committee can look to for future leadership? Why in such as old party, one man seems to be the only answer to their survival question? The United Republican Party (URP) believes that Mr. Jagdeo was not good for Guyana and will not be good for Guyana given his track record. He presided over a woefully corrupt, vicious, vindictive and authoritarian government. We believe that it is to the detriment of Guyana for him to be reelected to lead this nation. In light of these facts, the URP calls on the President to immediately put systems in place to have the COA’s ruling be put as a referendum to the people.
The URP notices, given the COA’s latest ruling, that any decision the Parliament makes is likely to be challenged and over turned in court. We were also reliably informed that the PPP are opposed to any constitutional reform, given the powers resident in the current constitution. It is the belief of the PPP that given free and fair elections in 2020, they will regain the government. The URP is therefore suggesting that the government expedites the constitutional reform amendments – regulating the Presidential powers, the proportional representation, etc, – and have all those form part of the referendum.
The divisive, winner-take-all, unpatriotic, kind of politics in Guyana is becoming starker. Should a seething Jagdeo regain the Presidency with its Executive powers, in this weakened nation, Guyana might never recover from what he is likely to do to us using those executive powers. If the PNC-Coalition with its AFC arm is indeed concerned about the future of Guyana; if they are indeed patriotic and visionary, they will immediately put measures in train to stave off any end-run my Jagdeo. The Granger-led administration should follow the suggestion of the Court Of Appeal, and put the issue in a referendum to the people. This is the only guaranteed approach, except of course the Coalition knows for sure they will win because they have some sinister plan of returning to power. dc@tbsllp.com
Yours truly, Dr. Vishnu Bandhu Leader, URP