PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo’s legacy will be more than an imprint in Guyana. This President’s sustainable legacy will matter even more after the 2011 elections when the PPP/C reigns in another electoral victory. Indeed, there are the usual suspects who feel that  even now, Jagdeo matters little, albeit such opinions remain victims of evidentiary starvation. People’s opinion, especially in the public domain, must have legitimate epistemological groundings; this may not be the case here. And it is unfortunate that large numbers of Guyanese have few opportunities to discredit and disavow these perpetual trashy public opinions.
I present this perspective because day in and day out, we see the same mundane unjustified opinioned statements against this President and the Guyana Government; it is not that the President and Guyana should be free from criticisms; but that these so-called criticisms or perhaps, daily griping really are the product of cherry-picking exercises, criticisms not embracing any form of structured knowledge, and not evidence-based within the population of interest.
Naipaul’s early piece in The Middle Passage comes to mind. Naipaul disgusted and fed up with what he saw in the Caribbean said: “Everyday, I saw the same things – unemployment, ugliness, overpopulation, race – and every day I heard the same circular arguments. The young intellectuals, whose gifts had been developed, to enrich a developing, stable society, talked and talked and became frenzied in their frustration. They were looking for an enemy and there was none…”

Pull Quote: ‘…it is not that the President and Guyana should be free from criticisms; but that these so-called criticisms or perhaps, daily griping really are the product of cherry-picking exercises, criticisms not embracing any form of structured knowledge, and not evidence-based within the population of interest’

We hear ad nauseum about corruption, torture, human rights violations, etc., from folks who misguidely manipulate these human tragedies, as a means of advancing their cause as the political alternative to Jagdeo and the PPP/C; but since they cannot yet reveal their true public political aspirations, they confine their allegory to public rhetoric, searching for an enemy, where there is none.

Look, previously, I indicated severally that there is corruption, allegations of torture, etc; but we must not present these evils as if all of society has these iniquitous characteristics in form and content. Nonetheless, the Guyanese people receive a daily dosage of cherry-pickings from political aspirants. And these political aspirants who think that the evils are ubiquitous in the entire society should present evidence of its totality. In other words, are they talking about a few cases of alleged torture, or that the security forces are engaging in a policy of torture across society? This kind of remark about a policy of torture requires evidence that matches the allegation.
Let us not forget that these were the same folks who told the nation that Jagdeo would not deliver on CLICO and the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) agreement with Norway. As I write this piece, 1100 small policy holders are in the process of extracting a refund; and the corporate policy holders will shortly be next in line. And let us understand these people’s modus operandi as they advance their political aspirations; keep in mind these folks’ attempts to damage and eliminate the Norway-Guyana LCDS agreement; fortunately, for Guyana, their silly efforts failed. The first tranche of this agreement, US$30 million is now a reality, and will be applied for developmental purposes. Early this year circa the Budget presentation, Minister of Finance Ashni Singh talked about obtaining this tranche before the end of 2010. The Guyanese people must see these characters for who they really are, and the unpatriotic lengths they would extend themselves to advance their political self-interest.
And they would see more than imprint in Jagdeo’s legacy if they attention to the external shock in the 1980s: a deceleration in the global economy and the debt crisis. Guyana responded through acquiring  adjustment assistance from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. We should keep in mind that in 1992 the PPP/C Government inherited a logistical nightmare, chief among that nightmare, was an external US$2.1B debt (it was US$933M in 2009); and Guyana reached financial viability in about 10 years as a result of this external debt. The PPP/C Administration engaged the 1990s with balancing debt service payments and meeting the needs of the poor; indeed, a major challenge.
In order to present an effective response to the debt crisis, the Government of Guyana successfully mobilized considerable debt relief. Some examples are: At the Cochabamba Summit in 2006, President  Jagdeo obtained the South American Community of Nations’ endorsement of a resolution asking for 100 percent debt relief of Guyana’s stock of debt with December 2004 as the cut-off point, effective from January 2007. The IDB approved this Resolution making US$467 million available as debt write-off for Guyana. Effective July 1, 2006, the World Bank wrote-ff the International Development Association debt of Guyana of US$133M and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) debt of Guyana of US$189M; there was the G8 debt relief initiative; the IMF cancelled 100 percent from January 2006 of US$65 million acquired prior to January 1, 2005; there was a signed accord with the OPEC Fund for International Development; in 2003, Guyana obtained US$585M under the Enhanced HIPC Initiative. The Jagdeo Administration expended enormous efforts to make these debt reliefs happen, as they are not automatic; in all of these debt-relief negotiations, prudent management of the economy was a significant precondition.
What does debt relief do to a people? Debt relief makes funds available, feeding services into programs to help the poor to obtain better education, better health services, more access to clean water, and more chances to free themselves from the ravages of poverty.
Given today’s presentation on a mere few of Jagdeo’s accomplishments, the Jagdeoian framework is shaping up into a formidable legacy. And I did not yet speak about macroeconomic fundamentals, inter alia. (Feedback: pmperspectives@aol.com themisirpost.wordpress.com)