Press conferences revisited

Sep 11, 2023 Editorial, Features / Columnists

Kaieteur News – Once again that old saying ‘be careful what is asked for’ gains renewed life, and is proven so correct.  The PPPC Government was so afraid to face the nation that its top people did everything to avoid reporting to them.

Not satisfied with that, the government then went another step by  introducing the equivalent of an information blackout, which effectively left Guyanese in the dark.  By not sharing any details about many burning developments occurring at this crucial time in Guyana’s existence, including oil, Guyanese were left guessing.  Insistent calls for press conferences were largely ignored and dismissed in the most contemptuous manner.

To quiet the crowd, the smart money people in the PPPC Government did come up with a slick one, which led to even more ridicule for its narrowness and studied foolishness.  Tailored exercises with selected people on specially setup social media platforms reduced Guyana’s business to the laughable and the scornful.The clamor for weekly press conferences then went into higher gear.  Since the people wanted weekly press conferences, with professional media in attendance, this was what the government came up with to quell the unending disturbances.

Enter Bharrat Jagdeo, Guyana’s Vice President of Oil, and the unofficial Chief Minister of countless other government portfolios.  Before Guyanese can count to ten, the weekly press conferences is  transformed into the Bharrat Jagdeo Talk Show.  What Guyanese got was less about governance and more about politics.  It goes without saying that the door was flung wide open for the press conferences to grow into a full-flowered propaganda show, and a Bharrat Jagdeo lovefest.

For starters, he walked with his own cheering squad.  Those sneaky media types that knew which questions and what issues raised his hackles, so they wisely retreated from asking about those.  Then he had his human stage props in the manner of a standup comedian mumbling what to answer, what to duck and dodge, and what to pretend not to understand.  Because it is Bharrat Jagdeo at the controls, press conferences have gravitated to become some cross between a market brawl and modern rum shop philosophy.  This is the great one, Guyana’s Vice President, in his unrestrained element, and what an element it has been since he overcame some of his fears and some of anxieties about what he must say, and how he would look.  The consensus is that entertainment aside, he has done either too cleverly or very poorly in how his responses have registered, and how his body language gives him away.  Some schools of thought are of the belief that when cornered organisms are in full flight mode, a peculiar odor is given off.

Because press conferences have become the sought after ticket, Jagdeo has everything going for him.  He not only gets to choose his team of actors, but he also has options for the venue to shoot the motion pictures that are his press conferences.  To no one’s surprise, the Vice President settled for working from home, meaning, Freedom House.  By some fluke of his imagination, Vice President Jagdeo has convinced himself that he is more than capable of seamlessly separating government business from party business.  Though he has done a remarkable job fooling himself on that score, a significant segment of the rest of Guyana finds only the deplorable in this latest gimmickry from Jagdeo.

Further, since these affairs are his press conferences, and mostly in his house, he gets the first and last word on who can ask questions, what questions can be asked, and how long he will take with any answer that he gives. If there is one thing that could be said with complete confidence about Jagdeo is that he is one smart cookie.  One example only confirms his clumsy resourcefulness: tough questions on oil brings out the best and worst in the man.

A ten-word question on oil can inspire a minimum ten-minute monologue.  Depending on the question (and questioner) Jagdeo can mutate from charming to brimming with menace instantly.  While Jagdeo overflows with such acrobatics, ExxonMobil’s people laugh heartily, and look for new ways to plunder Guyana’s wealth.  Press conferences Jagdeo style are low leadership comedy (and propagandizing), while corporate piracies of Guyana continue unabated.

• Editorial