OPINION: VP Jagdeo’s strange forms of cracking the whip

Last Updated on Monday, 30 September 2024, 21:21 by Writer

by GHK Lall

Vice President Jagdeo has acted with strength and determination. Minister Ramson has been ‘scolded’, shown the error of his ways. Hallelujah! The hope is that no Guyanese mistakes that for a prayer to Jagdeo (Hallelu-Ja,,,). When his peculiar form of discipline, of righting wrongs, is considered genuine, packs a real punch, then the accolades will follow. Promise. Guyanese have seen this before, haven’t they? This Bharrat Jagdeo shaking, rattling, and rolling jive that is held out as taking corrective action.

The attention of locals is directed to that Exxon audit by IHS Markit of Great Britain that had US$214 million in audit findings. The findings went from US$214 million to US$3 million in a flash that puts lightning to shame. What was the result of that, that, mental lapse? Poor Gopinath (now, Dr. Bob) Gossai took the fall and was roundly punished. There was a 15-day suspension. Or so it was said. The question comes naturally: what was that so-called disciplinary farce all about: suspension in midair or suspension in mid-sentence? There was nobody who laughed louder, had a grander time during those 15 days than Dr. Gopinath “Bobby” Gossai. It is the Jagdeo whip, the Jagdeo cure, the Jagdeo farce to deal with these, er, inconveniences, that arise out of the regular noisy sources from the media. Those that his sidekick in silkiness and slippery footstep, His Honor, Excellency Ali, would dismiss as detractors. If that supposedly penalty for Dr. Bobby represents ‘scolding’ or discipline, then all Guyanese should have it. Implement that standard in the Guyana Police Force.

Recently, news surfaced that a sanctioned permanent secretary (now former), who had been sent packing with the greatest of reluctance went her way with a big bag of rich goodies: everything is the way that it always was. From money to more and whatever else that cannot be mentioned here. There is appreciation about why the Americans from Ambassador Nicole D. Theriot down have all sought some quality time off through silence. They are busy trying to fathom the curious ways in which Excellency Jagdeo’s (and the PPP Government’s) discipline work, what such actually means in real life. Or it could be that the College Football and NFL seasons provide better entertainment and examples of on-field discipline for wrongdoing and rowdiness than the PPP and the VP’s versions. Considering the still-in-one-piece and at-the-same-place, Dr. Gossai, and the former permanent secretary, the best that can be said is that the Jagdeo idea of cracking the whip does have its results. And rewards, too. At this rate, many Guyanese public officials could be harboring ideas of how they can wreak havoc (what helps the Americans, or what the Americans take serious objection to, or what is locally, racially insensitive), so that they can be disciplined by Jagdeo and be a better man or woman for it. That is, come out richer, sharper, and stronger.

How much better – more authentic and believable – for the honorable minister to do the one honorable thing left for him to do. Fall on his sword publicly: ‘I am sorry. I apologize to Mr. Thom for still being carried away by post-August 2020 euphoria’. What could be more ministerial than such a move? What could be more manly than such a step? The Japanese in deference to the Bushido code used to do that, until modernization took charge. If Japanese warriors could have done so, then Guyanese warrior-minister Ramson can do so, too. A halfway decent man would visit Mr. Thom unannounced and say sorry quietly.

Separately, the same glorious Jagdeo, racial hero, anti-discrimination battler, was so noble during the last local government elections. When the PNC triumphed by slim margins in some places, I wrote something to the effect that “the cook-up rice incentives” produced no magic. Suffering succotash! There was the VP, pretending outrage: ‘somebody should report that man to the Ethnic Relations Commission.’ Imagine that, for ‘cook-up rice incentives’ that failed. What was all that righteous indignation, hypocrisy, about, bhai Bharat? A real concern, or the realpolitik [stink and dutty] of Guyana? Mr. Ivor Thom is verbally and offensively abused in broad daylight and the best that Guyana’s racial equalizer, Daktah Bharat-ji can muster is a private, possibly imaginary, ministerial scolding. Why not some equivalent outrage then, Comrade Disciplinarian?

This is the tangled web of Guyana. Where fair is foul, and foul is fair. Jokes from jokers. For Dr. Jagdeo’s (and his sycophants) enlightenment: neither ERC nor PPPC would have liked the reception that the former would have received had it unwisely decided to click heels, come calling here. Discipline in Guyana, like almost everything, distils to this: different folks, different strokes. Thanks Mr. Sorry, Dr. Jagdeo for the standards.