Latest update May 6th, 2024 12:59 AM
Mar 30, 2017 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
The sad thing about post 2015 politics, and I mean really sad, is that a concatenation of unruly, crazy, self-destructive mistakes by the Coalition Government have in diverse ways, played into the hands of the PPP. One would have thought that a priority of the new government was to fully expose the despicable depravity and unspeakable of the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabals.
It is going on to two years since the coalition administration came to power and we are still to see a graphic exploration of the naked abuse of power by these two presidents.
What went on in Guyana between 2001 and the end of the Ramotar minority presidency was an incredible journey into West Indian lunacy. Take Jamaica. Inner city gunmen have always done violent work for the main rival parties but it is unthinkable that these gunmen would be seen doing security work for former Prime Ministers or be seen frequenting party headquarters.
Jagdeo perambulates Guyana and at his side are violent men with bestial instincts some of whom have been convicted of criminal violence, some of whom are before the courts, some of whom the police have confession statements.
This is the nature of the man, Jagdeo. The remnants of intoxicated power during the social debaucheries of Jagdeo and Ramotar are ubiquitous. We see it every day on the face of this country. We are hearing about the asininity of state subsidized land at Pradoville 2 which is not different from the normal housing policy of the then PPP government. Does the state sell subsidized house lots and offer them to people whose income is so substantial that they could have afforded to buy private land?
The Jagdeo regime called the then President of the Caribbean Development Bank, Dr. Compton Bourne, and sold him a Pradoville 2 lot. By any stretch of the imagination such a person does not need a subsidized house lot.
The people who need it and are entitled to it are people without any substantial resources. The list is endless and includes public servants with immense years of service to this land – nurses, civil servants, soldiers, police officers, firemen, university lecturers, state media workers, but surely not the President of the Caribbean Development Bank.
The Pradoville 2 scandal is making the news but there are more egregious giveaways by these two former presidents. Enormous public riverside real estate was sold to Jagdeo’s friends for peanuts. One former Guysuco head sold himself hundreds of acres of Guysuco land again for peanuts. We just read last week that one of Jagdeo’s best friends owed the government a few million US dollars. One million US is 220 million Guyanese.
Whether the SARU Head, Professor Clive Thomas had an inaccurate figure of a few hundred billions is not the point. Billions of state funds have been siphoned off by the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabals and this should never go uninvestigated and unpunished. How about this one; one of the beneficiaries of the Pradoville 2 scandal has agreed to pay the state for the land using market value. He was merely a minister. From where will he find that dozens of millions? We all know the answer.
A sordid story that is neatly tucked away from the eyes of the Guyanese people is the riches of a former police commissioner that Jagdeo confirmed even though the US Government warned Jagdeo that the fellow was corruptly linked to narco-trafficking. A dispute among the beneficiaries of his will reveals the man has handsome wealth that includes gold mining claims. Where did a public servant who worked in the public sector all his adult life get so much wealth?
Are we to accept that Mr. Jagdeo is entitled to immunity as a former president and Guyana cannot do a damn thing about the recipients of state resources that were literally given away by Mr. Jagdeo. Someone asked an interesting question or I might have read it in a letter to the newspaper. If Jagdeo had murdered someone during his presidency, does that come under the immunity clause? So in effect, a president under the 1980 constitution can simply do whatever he wants and once he demits office he cannot be charged.
So if Jagdeo did kill someone, that would have been a life that was utterly wasted because the killer is above the law. Is that what our constitution provides for? So if the Americans give us evidence of Jagdeo’s collusion with drug traffickers, all we can do is tell the Americans and the Guyanese people that it is useless information. I do not believe the immunity clause is so bottomless. Jagdeo has to face the law.
GRA catch EXXON trying to hunch GUYANA over 11 BUS dollars in one shot!!!!
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