A time-out to recognise Dr Bharrat Jagdeo among our special leaders

Dear Editor,
MARCH 06, 2022, will mark the 25th death anniversary of the father of our great nation, Dr Cheddi Jagan. As expected, his works, qualities and teaching are recognisably endowed in many of our current leaders cultured by the PPP, that is advancing the transformative agenda and rise of Guyana today.

This year we also celebrate 30 years since the dawn of a New Era emerging from the re-establishment of democracy in 1992. It is, therefore, appropriate and useful to take a time-out to recognise, support, and applaud the continued contribution of another special and justifiably revered son of our soil, given that he unrelentingly continues to provide invaluable, unselfish support and guidance. Please permit me to recognise our Honourable Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, a man of unquestionable character, who emerged from humble beginnings to serve with distinction as one of our country’s iconic presidents from 1999 to 2011.

As a backdrop, it is useful to note that under the admirable stewardship of the PPP/C officials in government, the take-off is witnessed, observed, and set for inclusive participation and benefit by hundreds of thousands of Guyanese at home and in the diaspora, coupled with the millions of global followings of the augmentation of our potential to realise a thematic fulfilment of tremendous nationwide development. Evidencing this dynamic movement, world leaders along with myriad technical personalities are currently in Guyana, participating in the highly successful International Energy Conference and Exposition, promoting engagements towards “Chartering [sic] a Sustainable Energy Future”.

The PPP/C Government is focused on a Sustainable Development Charter, guided by men and women of substance. Following more than 28 years as the main opposition due to fraudulent electoral practices by the then PNC, the PPP/C won power in 1992 and immediately commenced the transformation of this country into a better place to live. However, it was within the vision of Dr Cheddi Jagan that the Golden Boy Bharrat Jagdeo was identified as a potential leader, who would be capable and ready to take the reins of continuance to make Guyana a better place. Young Jagdeo was appointed Finance Minister and then he was groomed in the PPP leadership to give quality guidance to our government.

Following party-based elevation due to his demonstrated potential and nurturing, Bharrat Jagdeo at age 35 was subsequently elected as President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana in August 1999. He swiftly demonstrated his valuable quality as a leader, evidenced by a wide plethora of achievements and international accreditations, a few of which this column is pleased to highlight. In 2005, President Jagdeo was elected Chairman of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. It was no surprise when in 2006, The World Economic Forum (WEF) identified Jagdeo as one of their inaugural Young Global Leaders.

The prestigious Times Magazine named Jagdeo as one of their “Heroes of the Environment” in 2008, and he was awarded the United Nations “Champion of the Earth” in 2010. Also in 2010, the Secretary-General of the United Nations asked Jagdeo to serve on the Secretary General’s High-level Advisory Group on Climate Financing. Jagdeo is a Patron of the Delhi-based World Sustainable Development Forum. In 2011, Heads of State and other leaders from the World’s rainforest countries asked him to be the “Roving Ambassador for the Three Basins” (Amazon, Congo Basin, South East Asia).

In March 2012, the world’s largest environmental organisation, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), announced that President Jagdeo would become the ICUN High-Level Envoy for Sustainable Development in Forest Countries and Patron of Nature. In addition, he is also the President of the assembly of the Korea-based Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), having been a founding board member of GGGI since 2010. GGGI is the world’s newest international organisation that currently has a complement of 20 member states.

In 2013, Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma announced that former President Jagdeo would lead a high-level team of experts to identify solutions for unlocking resources to enable small, poor, and climate-vulnerable Commonwealth countries to combat climate change. The former President, whose related works in the field are second to none, was joined by eight others to create a set of recommendations for the international community to help identify practical solutions for those countries most vulnerable to climate change. Jagdeo presented the report to 53 heads of government and other leaders of the Commonwealth, representing about the fifth of the World’s population at the 2014 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

It is recalled that Jagdeo travelled from the 2015 CHOGM to participate in the United National Framework Convention on Climate Change Summit in Warsaw, where he spoke of the outcomes of CHOGM and the need for continued leadership from Prime Ministers and Presidents. In a major speech in Warsaw, he stated: “In the next 24 months much progress needs to be made if we are going to have a climate agreement. We can still stop the absolute, worst extremes of climate change, and start the massive shift towards global low-carbon development. The world tried to do this in 2009 in Copenhagen and failed. As a consequence, more people will die, more livelihoods will be destroyed, more economies will suffer and the cost of action has gone up steadily. If we fail again in 2015, the damage and the costs will become truly unmanageable. Future generations will ask: how could we be so selfish, not once, but twice”?

As a testimony to his broadened international repertoire, it is factual that in March 2013, the ACP Council of Ministers inaugurated a 14-member Eminent Persons Group (EPG), whose mission would be to provide guidance and concrete recommendations for the future of the ACP Group. The 14 members of this group met in Brussels and designated the former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, as their chairman, with Jagdeo designated as one of two Vice-chairs. Jagdeo has also been a Guest Lecturer at Columbia University (New York City, USA), York University (Toronto, Canada), Trent University (Peterborough, Canada), the University of Toronto, United Nations University (Tokyo, Japan), and the University of the West Indies. He has also taken part in Trent University’s Carbon Conversation, focusing on the need to sustainably de-carbonise the global economy.

President Irfaan Ali is also doing extremely well in guiding our brilliant young Cabinet members to provide the Guyanese population with exemplary leadership and unflinching support that will certainly make Guyana a paradise with the continued support of our leaders.

Yours sincerely,
Neil Kumar

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