GUYANA | Pay Keen Attention to the Ali/Jagdeo Duo, says Lincoln Lewis

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Nov 27, 2023 - At a time when Guyanese need a peaceful and cohesive environment, when Venezuela threatens our nation-state, creating angst among the people, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo and President Irfaan Ali have decided this is their moment to escalate ethnic tension and political division.

Whereas some see the debased conduct as a function of political immaturity, the absence of proper upbringing and/or disregard for laws and decorum, whatever view is held, it does Guyana no good.

Jagdeo and Ali continue to be an embarrassment to this nation and the offices they hold. It is also evident no one asks them, perhaps, can dare ask them, or they are incapable of doing so. 

What manner of leader would stoop so low to call a fellow citizen “a low life,” particularly one who has distinguished herself in public service and had an upbringing Jagdeo could have only read in books or seen in movies.

For Jagdeo to call AFC chair and Member of Parliament Cathy Cholmondeley Hughes “a low life” is what we would call “self-projecting,” for he lacks the moral authority and is no paragon of virtue to point his finger at another when he has  either  engaged in, supported, profited from,  turned a Nelson’s eye to and further stands as a representative to every despicable, and “low life” behaviour that one can think of, from state corruption to spousal abuse and abandonment and the narco trade.

We must never forget Jagdeo’s record as President of Guyana is besieged by the knowledge and exposure of state sponsored/ associated death squads, the extrajudicial killing of hundreds of young men, police officers, members of the business community; creation of a  narco militarised state, with identified narco traffickers being involved in alleged crime fighting; executing a programme of economic genocide against the African community; the transgressing of rights and violations of laws.

So pervasive was his low life management of the state of Guyana that under his corrupt leadership Guyana was ranked the most corrupt English-speaking country in the Caribbean.  

Guyanese can recall the assassination of Ronald Waddell and Agriculture Minister Satyadeow ‘Sash” Sawh, family and security guard; the killings of George Bacchus, Axel Williams and others; admission by Home Affairs Minister Ronald Gajraj of his role in some of the deaths; the purchase, through former Minister of Health Leslie Ramsammy of an electronic triangulation equipment, a prized piece of equipment for  drug lords  discovered in the possession of USA wanted and subsequently convicted drug kingpin Roger Khan. 

Jagdeo’s pervasive executive lawlessness, thuggery; alleged spousal abuse and cruelty adds to the complement of his own ingrained low life attributes and lifestyle.

How dare he, with a record befitting one that should be tried, found guilty and locked away for the atrocities committed on the people and the nation, seek to drag a person of repute to his level. One that he was born into, grew up in and has, as an adult not evolved from but dug deeper into even as he cloaks himself with political titles.  

Among his peers he is matchless in this regard and is no more than a disgraced president, vice president and General Secretary of the PPP.  His legacy of lawlessness as a low life president and person will be his indelible record.

It is true Jagdeo on 23rd October 2015 told this nation his regime was discussing the issue of giving Venezuela a channel out to the sea; a discussion that reeks of anti-nationalism and treason. 

His failure to retract his position, in no less a place than the National Assembly, sees him resorting to his comfort zone of low life buyzing out; a weekly diet of mental abuse media workers and the nation are subjected to. 

In the workplace, his behaviour would constitute harassment and attract a lawsuit. Media workers do this nation a great service by showcasing Jagdeo and how toxic an environment he easily creates on a weekly basis for the working class of this nation and viewing public.

I also want him to know that as he uses the state and abuses its machinery to attack me at these press conferences, I am not afraid of him and shall continue to express my unreserved views, fearlessly.

His accusation that former CEO of Central Housing and Planning Authority, Lelon Saul “did nothing when he was at housing,” sounds like the usual effort to demonise workers and citizens without evidence. 

The fact that Saul never had a problem as CEO to now be accused by his political boss of doing nothing, is seen as an attack on the Institute For Action Against Discrimination (IFAAD) of which Saul, Roysdale Forde and myself are leading members of. The PPP is more than concerned about the work and potential of this Institute.

To the issue of President Irfaan Ali seeking to stoke a confrontation with Senior Counsel and Member of Parliament Roysdale Forde for associating in the good company of the U.S Fact-Finding Mission team that was here recently. Ali accused Forde of bringing the team to Guyana to lobby for him to become leader of the PNCR.

Ordinarily, people would have seen Ali’s weak attempt to drag Forde down as an effort to score cheap political points and envy. But given that Ali had the opportunity to meet the team and chose the route of being a public spectacle, repeatedly lying to the nation about his reason for not meeting, his conduct is deserving of condemnation.

The truth is Ali could not have faced the team based on his discriminatory record against the Opposition, certain sections of the trade union community, non-governmental organisations, sections of the business community and individuals he or Jagdeo cannot influence. 

That is the level of scrutiny he was afraid of and still runs from, forgetting the saying that “noon does run til day ketch ‘am” and it is only a matter of time before his wicked and discriminatory management of the state catches up with him.

The nation should continue to pay careful attention to these two men, their action and inaction, both of which have serious implications to the well-being of this country and its citizens.