Last Updated on Sunday, 18 October 2026, 19:22 by Written By Denis Chabrol
by GHK Lall
Guyana’s number one political detector of danger, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, attended an evening of reflection for Mr. Robert Corbin, one-time Deputy Prime Minister and Opposition Leader. In trademark fashion, he came armed with his own classical composition: the Jagdeo Funeral March. Move over Chopin, it is Dr. Jagdeo’s Symphony. He may not be deaf in the Beethoven manner, but his political eyesight is better than most.
If they don’t change, the PPP and PNC risk “extinction.” Extinction? Was that Jagdeo speaking or a dummy made to sound like him? It was always the PNC that was in the extinction category. Revisit Mr. Jagdeo’s pre-September 2025 words. Remember? Since when has Bharrat Jagdeo been that concerned about potential PNC extinction? Wouldn’t that be better for he and the PPP? Wouldn’t that be easier on the PPP purse, whenever the visions and conversation are about a supermajority? Relative to the PPP, it is surprising to hear a leader of the caliber of Jagdeo broadcasting his own party’s threatening extinction. It just won so many seats that it ran out of people to give them to, had to get some scruffy characters to hand them off. A massive seven-seat majority, and this bright fellow is making political extinction one of the high notes of his wake oration. I have heard about Pericles’ funeral peroration, but never of a wake oration. But it was Jagdeo himself, choosing a moment that honors the dead to warn about pending death for the PPP and PNC. If there wasn’t reexamining of heads, and then adjusting them accordingly.
For those who think that Mr. Jagdeo lost his head, perish the thought. The man talked about looming PPP, PNC, extinction, if the right moves aren’t made. Did he clear that script with counsel? According to Ali, Jagdeo, Nandlall, Teixeira, Phillips, Edghill, there is none better than the PPP. Not in 100 years and not by 1000 miles. So, what this worry about extinction that he is talking about? From which hole did he dig up that one? Jagdeo doesn’t strike as a nervous type, so why was he driving himself to hysteria with concerns and alarms about PPP extinction? Forget about the PNC. The PNC can take care of itself. But there was Dr. Smarties reeling in the PNC, when it is the PPP that is endangered. Look at history. Look at the gathering clouds (confluence of circumstances).
The British jailed Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohandas Gandhi. Study the result. The South Africans jailed Nelson Mandela, Mac Maharaj, and others. Check the result. The Guyana Government (PPP) has a man securely tied up in jail, and Jagdeo fears his party’s extinction. He isn’t a man to see jumbie, and be terribly overwhelmed by it. Yet, he brought that up in the middle of a wake. Must be extremely urgent, a matter of life-and-death, for Dr. Jagdeo not to contain himself.
Look, after being here 10 years, I have a better than fair idea of how Jagdeo thinks, what makes him tick. It must be given to him: there’s that sixth sense that sends his antenna into uncontrollable gyrations. The man in jail could make the PPP fail. The man in jail already succeeded in doing that to the PNC. Except that no one is admitting to that, waving it away. A fluke. Everyone was sleeping, got caught by the element of surprise. Now, Dr. Jagdeo is not taking any chances. If the PNC before, the PPP could be next, notwithstanding owning and controlling the GECOM machinery. But he is slick: overnight, the PNC is part of the party. Warm words. Warmer hugs. Warmest dispositions. Jeez! This Guyana must be a crack cocaine trip, with some LSD thrown in for added potency.
In preparing to go, what more do I make of Jagdeo’s take on PPP, PNC, extinction? The man is Darwinian -natural selection. Part of his mating call and game. A survival strategy. A leader with a vision bigger than seven seats. And in which the PNC has a part to play. Blessings, Guyana!
