…as Chris Gayle issues clarification on visit to Linden

AMID rage from Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo over Chris Gayle’s presence at a PNCR rally in Linden on Saturday, the West Indies batting star on Tuesday issued a statement saying he was apolitical, and that his appearance at the political meeting was to meet his fans.

A leaked tape surfaced Monday evening with Jagdeo, and someone with a voice similar to that of his best friend, Bobby Ramroop seemingly discussing the appearance of Gayle at the PNCR meeting. The Guyana Chronicle was told that Jagdeo had wanted Gayle to appear at a Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO) event the same day, but the Jamaican opted for the Linden outing with the PNCR. On the expletive-laced tape, Jagdeo is heard threatening to place someone in his “Bad Books”.

“Tell him that you just get in fu….g Jagdeo bad books; he just cussing your sk..t here,” Jagdeo was heard telling two men on the tape as they discussed Tyrell Tull, a former Guyanese cricketer who was seen with Gayle in Linden. Social media commentators said the tape exposes Jagdeo for who he really is.

Ruel Johnson wrote on his Facebook page that “as someone who has spent several years in “fu….g Jagdeo’s bad book”, I can say two things. The first is that when he was at the height of his power, it was a terrible place to be in; he made sure that I, as an independent man with no political backing and no wealthy family to cushion me, got hit hard in terms of employment. Controlling access to money is his primary way of spreading his tentacles, and his threat to Chris Gayle no doubt stemmed from past arrangements coming out of Jagdeo’s founding status with the Caribbean Premiere League, originally sponsored by New GPC, the company whose owner and Jagdeo are extremely close. Once you have benefitted financially from him in any way, he believes he owns you.”

The second thing Johnson said is that while he remains the single most influential politician/individual in Guyana, relatively to the control he exerted in the past, he only now exercises what “I’ve called his ‘phantom limb’ power outside of his political base and his tiny special interest cabal. I watched with amusement his behind-the-scene contortions two years ago when I equated the parking meters corruption to a minor New GPC/QAII hustle, and he had his newspapers, websites and television newscasts create a fiction that I was on the run from the police, eventually getting the Private Sector Commission (dominated by people indebted to him for their wealth) to issue an awkward statement accusing me of inciting terrorism, which they then had to withdraw and rewrite four times, and which ended up being carried only by the Jagdeo media.”

Johnson said he had pointed out a week ago that Jagdeo was saying very statesmanlike things, completely out of character with the vindictive, petty, wrathful person we know him to be. “That recorded Chris Gayle threat is the real man behind the Bald Saviour mask; the man who is so insecure and hubristic that he is personally slighted by the bullshit theatrical appearance of Gayle at the PNC 62 Anniversary rally in Linden. If the PPP wins, that is the man who will be effectively in charge of Guyana at its wealthiest…,” Johnson wrote.

For his part, Gayle said: “I, Christopher Gayle, would like to make it very clear that I in no way, manner or form endorse or support any individual or political party in Guyana. I have noted the many Social Media comments in relation to my recent presence in Linden, and I wish to set the record straight. I was invited to Linden to participate in a community outreach. As a sports personality, I relish the opportunity to meet with my fans, and also to reach out to any community under the neutral banner of sports. I am apolitical of any political commitment, and strongly condemn attempts to tarnish my brand and personality.”