Dear Editor,
BHARAT Jagdeo has a self-anointed perception of himself as that of a political media star; and how much he loves the limelight, as he tries desperately to sanitise and re-invent himself and party fortunes via a daily deluge of political deceptions, lies, and misleading information, and the usual resort to race as a means of ensuring constituent support. Such will continue to be his political offense mechanism as he prepares his party for the 2020 national and regional elections.

To say the least, the nation has not benefitted from such an egregious behaviour since it has not added any intellectual content in terms of finding solutions to the many national challenges, chief of all, the issue of race. And this is because Jagdeo is all about the reclamation of power, at all costs and through any conceivable means. For him any means would justify his selfish ends.

Challenging the President to a debate on race in Guyana and comparing the 28 years of PNC government to that of the 23 years of PPP/C governance, and the current three years of coalition government rule in terms of economic opportunities for African Guyanese, is a ploy to continue Jagdeo’s deceptive and pointless narrative.

Is this not some sick joke, deceptive too, and designed to create the appearance of Jagdeo, being genuinely interested in removing the race thorn that he has been continuously sticking in the nation’s side, opening the racial wounds deeper? And if he is seeking to elevate the GECOM issue as a basis for his case, then it is a none-starter because of the constitutional body’s management structure that had served his party and government for several elections which they had won, without the then opposition complaining – and which the latter subsequently inherited as government.

Overwhelmingly, most of those African Guyanese who would have made advancements in their business endeavours, would have done so with their own money. Many, especially those who have invested in the hotel and banqueting hall businesses, were overseas-based and who would have brought home their hard-earned money. And even if they had received concessions from the PPP/C regime, such would not have been any different to those granted by that government for Guyanese wishing to invest in legitimate business.

Those hundreds of small-sized African business persons, such as stall holders, poultry rearers and some farmers, would have accessed loans from the Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED), Scotia Bank, and the traditional box hand, to start up and re-stock their specific business concerns. These are the African Guyanese whose stories would be revealing, should they go public about their attempts to access loans from some known commercial banks.

Jagdeo does not have to be reminded as to where the opportunity was for making a dollar. It was in the procurement, and contracts for state projects that were not accessible to African Guyanese. Granted, that there were a paltry number of African contractors who got some money, but the latter were mere crumbs in comparison to the billions that went the way of the PPP/C supporters, friends, and cronies.

Many Indo-Guyanese became overnight contractors because of their ethnicity and party affiliation, and they made hundreds of millions for doing shoddy and incomplete work! It was a dice loaded in their favour, since many of them were subsequently able to gradually build the capacity that eventually made them eligible in accordance with procurement terms. It is an imbalance that until now, still militate against many African Guyanese contractors who bid for contracts.

There is no magic wand that could create the much-needed socio-economic balance in just three years, as Jagdeo would want Guyanese, especially the African segment, to believe. It is a dishonest narrative that comes from his book of jumbie economics. Besides, the current government from its socio-economic programme, is about creating an enabling environment for all Guyanese to prosper. There are mechanisms already fashioned to accommodate the different levels of entrepreneurship, thus giving every class of Guyanese a choice of economic participation.

The Jagdeo administration, by a deliberate and well planned policy, ensured the enrichment of Indo-Guyanese by a variety of means, the legitimate pathways of which were inaccessible to Afro-Guyanese. Since 2015, it has been gradually revealed as to the conditions that existed, for the theft of and transferal of state assets, to friends and cronies, and even to overseas climes, which evidence according to SARA has been received.

Of course, there were socio-economic problems that existed during the Burnham regime; but he would have never tolerated the profligacy, unbridled ostentation and shameful corrupt practices, much less to have death squads operating on behalf of the government, as what had occurred during the Jagdeo government. It is well-known that many high state functionaries were prosecuted, found guilty and jailed during his era. In fact, the corrupt practices of that phase, paled in comparison to that of the 23 years.

Finally, the Burnham policy for socio-economic was that of cooperative socialism, conceptualised to engender individual self-sufficiency; and not about the looting of state resources. In fact, this was the socialist ideology of that time, and one shared by the then PPP opposition, Dr. Cheddi Jagan.

I stand to be corrected when I state that Dr. Jagan did not like big business; was always suspicious of their capitalist ideology, given his known Marxist-Leninist outlook, and even though he had won the presidency, there were concerns about his policy towards the private sector. One should note the complete disavowal of all that Jagan stood for, after he died. It became a free for all with the State’s resources. How many times the grand man of the PPP must not have turned in his grave!

Regards,
Earl Hamilton