Dear Editor,
Look who is claiming the high ground, at press conferences, and other public fora – Bharrat Jagdeo!
This leader of the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic(PPP/C, as president of this nation, presided over what is now recorded as the most traumatic of our modern political history: the period 2002-2008,inclusive of his twelve-year rule, will long be remembered as one in which organised crime flourished, aided by a killer squad that systematically murdered Guyanese; of police stations where gates were closed before sundown; of policemen being shot and killed; of narcotics becoming the symbol of state affluence, but deep in the tentacles of criminality and when most forms of public morality became desecrated on the altar of self- enrichment, where friends, families and cronies benefitted.
It is a period which effects are still being felt by Guyanese in many ways. For example, the advent of young criminals, many of whom would have lost their fathers during that unforgettable period.

But this letter is about jagdeo, who would be amusing if the issues he pronounces and pontificates upon were not so serious. Jagdeo, attempting to lecture the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU + (AFC) on what it should do, or what should not be done. What is so amusing is that these were very serious issues that arose during his tenure, and by extension that of his surrogate, president Donald Ramotar.
Take for example, the contract for the Marriot Hotel. Despite calls from the then opposition and sections of the public to release details of that contract – he refused, citing confidentiality issues. I stand to be corrected that recently, when the coalition government spoke about such contracts and their clauses, he said that it should publicise the very details. What game is he playing? Just who is he trying to fool.

This is an instance, in addition to many, where this discredited leader continues attempts at sanitizing himself and a record of PPP/C governance that was venal in so many ways.
Not so long ago, he sought to criticise the coalition government on the crime situation in Guyana, despite the fact that available stats then pointed to a decrease. To say that “Crime has never been so bad” was a criminal lie that pandered to similar views from a private sector that had benefitted in so many ways from tax waivers and tax concessions from his government; just imagine editor, from a poor country as ours.

Anyone matured enough and residing in Guyana at that time would remember the climate of fear, from the nightly staccato of automatic gunfire that left bodies lying in the city suburbs and its environs. It was mayhem, coming from a mix of forces, including the currently incarcerated, Roger Khan, whose gunmen were allowed to ride rough shod over the Guyanese citizenry. As a matter of fact, in a fully paid print ad in the newspapers, he claimed that he had been assisting the government to combat criminal violence! How could such a notorious personality have been allowed such a portfolio? I look forward to an inquiry into this period of this nation’s history. It will astonish all!
Maybe, Jagdeo was hoping that the same frightening scenario from the jailbreak of 2002, replicate itself. Sorry, the police force rose to the occasion and within a short while recaptured all of the escapees, except one who is reportedly still at large. Our citizens were not in fear as in 2000 and onwards.

That Jagdeo can continue to rave and rant and survive as a politician in this country, is due to the particular nature of our race-based politics. For in any other jurisdiction of a homogenous type, he would have been consigned to the dustbin of discredited national leaders who presided over a criminal state. No ambiguities with regards the latter; for the many audits thus far tell a story of wholesale theft of every type, state assets included. A real gangster state where corruption became a way of life, and still poses a major challenge to good governance, despite the best efforts of the government to rein in this dangerous beast.

Editor, these are matters that ought to be highlighted, if only to remind the Guyanese people to beware of a leader who pretended to be a democrat, but who instead trampled on its great tenets. I believe in freedom of speech, but not when someone like Jagdeo uses its sacred tenets to mock the sensibilities of this nation on almost a daily basis.
He has no morality of whatever kind, to speak. Another reminder; his idea of democracy, for example, had been to deny very credible media houses and personalities broadcasting licences, but doled out such to very close friends and family in multiples, giving them superior reach to every region in this country.
Recall that during the recent debate on the Broadcast (Amendment)Bill, he stated that freedom of the press had been under threat. What a convenient human!