Hard truths…Jagdeo: I am not senile

Nov 20, 2023 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

Kaieteur News – If there is one thing on which Guyana’s Vice President of Policymaking, the Hon. Bharrat Jagdeo, and I are in the fullest agreement with, it is those words that passed his lips and settled with a heavy thud on the public’s lap.

“I am not senile…” says the man, the majestic one. Regardless of who likes or despises him, or who agrees or disagrees with this assertion, Bharrat Jagdeo is not senile. Never was. Not is currently. As to what the future (the near future) has in store for him, I have to consult with the oracles. I was thinking of doing so with Drs. Anil Nandlall and Frank Anthony, but have been disappointed so many times, that I am on the hunt for new political obeah men. Now, I do more than assert that brother Bharrat is not at that dreadful (senility) stage, I swear that he just cannot be. At least not now. Let me help with the evidence trail.

A senile man would not have had the intensity of energy to track down a man like Mr. Su, and have him served with a lawsuit for his allegedly vile words to VICE News. The mystery to the claim of not being senile is that it took almost a year and a half for the servers to locate a man reputedly hiding in plain sight. Perhaps Mr. Su had taken an extended holiday by the Shan Mountains, or some Shaolin monastery, so that every side could get their stories in order. Senility, no; creativity, yes.

A senile economist could never have come up with the MGM song and dance productions that are part of his responses to simple questions about the Guyana-Exxon relationship, its major underpinnings. Look at how Dr. Jagdeo glides around issues about interest rates (money hard to borrow); oil spill insurance (Exxon is good for any coverage); contract renegotiation (sanctity of contract); more money for Guyanese (investors are skittish people).

Any Guyanese, anyone anywhere, who see a senile man or leader in those answers, is dumber than a dumbbell. I recognize Bharrat Jagdeo as always having his head on. Regarding how his head is screwed on, I take the fifth. This is where I am, fellow citizens: when Jagdeo has his head on, then Guyanese had better hold on to their own heads, so that he is not allowed to play games inside their cranial cavities.

Take the gas-to-something (energy or shore or Wales [or more prosperity for Exxon]), and my conclusion is that that project could never be the handiwork of a senile man. Never, in a month of Sundays. A senile man or leader would not know a pipeline from a power plant, and the national headmaster is already racing ahead with supreme confidence over both (and more).

This has been the hallmark of Bharrat Jagdeo, especially with issues and projects that have neither basis nor bottom. A senile man cannot think of, nor make promises of that type. That is, whether they fall apart, as has been the usual result with Jagdeo, in his stormy reigns as minister, or top national leader, or new chief policymaker; or, they show some minute glimpses of early life, and then lose steam. “Ow, Gawd nah suh baaad dat he cuss a maan wid senility, and then mek he come up wid any manner of obscenity that questions duty to country, and dat maan own stability. Gawd can be haad, but he can nevah be baad”.

When I think of Dr. Jagdeo along these lines, I discern that here is a man who should be in the newspaper business: he knows about the power of advertisement. The message is expensive, but the words are cheap. Now, if there is a sentence that captures the essence of this version of “I am not senile” Jagdeo, that is it.

To take this not being senile matter deeper and farther up the path, a senile man is incapable of drumming up all kinds of cock and bull stories to wrap around his lifework. A senile man does not have the luxury of being cunning.

A senile leader does not have the wisdom to concoct camouflages that play tricks on the population. A senile politician is unable to conceive of red herrings to lead citizens astray. Here is one more: I would like to know the Guyanese who have had the novel experience of dealing with a wizard (or witch) that is senile.

Okay, it is now time to close out this chapter (hard truths) on senility and the confirmed lack of it in the Hon. Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, Chief Oil Policymaker (poor Vick), and Chief Electricity Policymaker (poorer GPL). Bharrat Jagdeo is not senile. He is simply smart in some of the more nuanced, more innovative, and more expressive meanings of the word.

Because of this, I worry for my brother Barry Jagdeo. Too much smartness is often not too indistinguishable from the early stages of dormant senility. He really needs to be diligent with his vitamins. For added confidence, there are always the proven benefits of Texas prairie medicine. On the latter, he should consult with Dr. Alistair Routledge.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

• hard truths, Jagdeo, policymaking, senile