Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 07, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
On Wednesday night at 22.30 hours, I called Adam Harris to ask if he can drop my Thursday article because I had done an article on the air traffic controllers’ strike.
I knew President Jagdeo was returning on Thursday, and I knew he would have either reversed Minister’s Benn’s en mass dismissal of the strikers or he would have renewed the ultimatum.
If any analyst is worth his/her salt then he/she must know that President Jagdeo would not allow his Ministers to make unprecedented decisions.
At the bottom of that essay, I made the point that “now that President Jagdeo is back, we will see the maximum leader in full force.”
I had to rearrange the column because Adam said it was too late to get it as my Thursday piece.
But I was dead right. I know Mr. Jagdeo would have acted. The PPP journalist in Barbados, Rickey Singh had to wait for sixteen years before he understood the style of President Jagdeo.
Last year, he informed his readers that Jagdeo is possessed of the maximum leader syndrome, which according to Singh, Guyana had tasted before.
Obviously, Singh had Burnham in mind. But it begins and ends there. Burnham achieved a few things as in 1974 when Guyana was overflowing with money.
We are yet to see a year in which Mr. Jagdeo’s presidency has given us reason to shout “eureka” meaning that Guyana has now discovered it has money.
We are shouting “eureka” of course, in that we have discovered that no one wants to stay in Guyana.
But back to Rickey Singh’s depiction of the type of governance we in Guyana are seeing. It would appear from his press conference on Thursday that President Jagdeo didn’t even wait to settle in before he made his decision nullify the dismissal edict of Minister Benn.
Thursdays seem to be the day Mr. Jagdeo picks to exercise what Rickey Singh has described. I remember in 2005, Mr. Jagdeo came in from New York on a Thursday, heard at the airport about new leadership at UG, and before he could settle in the next day, had cancelled that new administration at UG. Mr. Jagdeo told the press conference that shortly after he returned home, he met with a representative of the striking airport workers and a path was agreed on.
I hope readers do not misinterpret my words here. Though the reversal of the decision was in the interest of the country, it brings into sharp focus what Rickey Singh wrote about.
One hopes that the air traffic controllers do not let down the country. They have agreed to a specific intention of the President – there will be discussions on their demands.
The workers should be aware of two obstacles that could undermine their credibility. One is that Mr. Jagdeo could cite other pressing matters that are more detrimental to the national interests and the time goes by and that particular grievance gets lost along the way.
There are some undercurrents being felt and there are heading in two directions. One is CLICO. The other is NIS. In fact the two may be connected.
The sudden resignation of Dr. Luncheon from the chairmanship of the NIS Board is strange. Dr. Luncheon cited his busy schedule.
But what is happening in Guyana to make him busier when he headed the NIS since 1992. Is there a fund depletion problem coming up at NIS?
The second danger is that the talks could get dragged out and the momentum dries up, and the country loses its interest in the air traffic controllers.
The GPSU is too experienced not to know how things will play out. The union must give Mr. Jagdeo two deadlines.
One is a specific time frame for negotiations and the other being another time schedule for concluding the talks. Whatever political virtue Mr. Jagdeo has, his balance sheet reveals a leader who “bobs and weaves” when it comes to making concessions.
Nothing has happened on the concession front since Mr. Jagdeo entered a dialogue (which became known as the National Dialogue) with Desmond Hoyte when Regent Street was on fire in the aftermath of the 2001 elections.
Mr. Jagdeo promised inclusive governance when he made his swearing in speech in August 2006. Inclusiveness in the exercise of governance since 2006 is as rare as Nazi exiles in the hinterland of Guyana. Nothing has emerged since the 2006 elections to make us feel that this President believes in inclusive governance and accepts the format that in practical politics, concessions will have to be made.
Jagdeo giving Exxon 102 cent to collect 2 cent.
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