Bharrat Jagdeo: fighter or quitter

Mar 08, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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H@rd Truths by GHK Lall

Kaieteur News – When the issue is about attaining power or retaining power, Bharrat Jagdeo is the fiercest of fighters.  Fiercest with broad strains of cleverness and resourcefulness attached.  Contrastingly, when the challenge is what would benefit others beside himself, meaning Guyanese, Bharrat Jagdeo has high-jumped into the ranks of the worst chokers.  When the oil and gas sector challenges, this former president becomes a frail shadow of himself, a flat tire on a twisted wheel.  He collapses in ready self-inflicted defeat; he yields and wallows in the dustbin of ignominious retreat.  To ram the point home: regarding mastery of the political game and lust for power, there is none better than Jagdeo the champ.  But when it comes to .fossil fuel benefits for Guyanese, there is none that is more of a shrinking violet, a withered feather, than Bharrat Jagdeo, the serial quitter.

To help him, I am thinking of the kind of bold conversations that Dr. Jagdeo should be having with Exxon, be it Mr. Routledge or higher-up.  The conversations of today from which he beats a cowardly exit: not now.  Not me.  Not giving anyone the opportunity to hang him out to dry.  There is that calculation about power again, which is the first consideration for this wiliest of political operators.  Here is the conversation that Jagdeo should have with Routledge in the boldest ofstarts, but which never gets off the ground.  I gift him this recommendation.

BJ: ‘I must tell the Guyanese people something, I cannot go back to them empty-handed.  They are increasingly mad at you [Exxon], and if I am not careful more of them are going to be mad at me.’

AR: ‘We have sanctity of contract, which means there can be no conversation about more for Guyana, so why waste time by bringing up the issue?  Why not let the two of us talk other business?’

BJ: ‘I hear you.  I know that Guyana is in a soft position, but if you say so, then that is it.  I’m not going to fight that.  But how about a little something, some small bone, that I can go back with, and tell the people about how hard I had to fight to get Exxon to this place of generous understanding?’

AR:  ‘Apparently, we are not understanding each other Barry, but Exxon’s position is set in stone.  What is so elusive about nonnegotiable?  This conversation is over.  The secretary will show you out.  Have a nice day.’

Quitter.  Quitter.  Quitter.  Jagdeo has never taken ‘NO’ for an answer when it is politics and power to himself that are involved.  But when it is fossil fuels and fairness for Guyanese, there is none more fearful, none more tentative, and none more fawning that Bharrat Jagdeo to Exxon’s superpower lash.  He should have been the one delivering the lash that stings and straight across Alistair Routledge’s condescending countenance.  I’ll help him recover.

BJ: look, if that’s Exxon’s attitude, then I am left with no choice but to go about this the hard way, so that Guyanese can get more.’

AR: ‘what does that mean?’

BJ: the EPA could become a different animal.  Instead of the pussycat that it has been, it could become an aggressive wildcat.’

AR: ‘is that a threat?  Where is this going?’

BJ: ‘The EPA has to do a better job, which has been said everywhere.  Regulations are a tricky creature, and politicians shouldn’t interfere with the technical people, as I have said all along.  Also, project approvals can take time to study.  After all, there are huge volumes of paper to go through.’

AR: ‘Now I am getting more than concerned, I am getting really angry.’

BJ: it is good that anger is brought up.  There is a handful of angry judges in Guyana’s judiciary, and the government looked terrible and subversive when it took Exxon’s side of that parent company guarantee case. That can’t happen again.’

AR: ‘so, what is the end game here?’

BJ: ‘Exxon is on its own.  And more and more supporters of the government are silently raging against Exxon.’

AR: ‘what about cricket sponsorship, billboards, Mt Sinai, and all the other good things, don’t they count?’

BJ: they don’t.  Exxon is now a confirmed monstrosity among thinking Guyanese; they see the company as the incarnation of the Ugly American. Public Enemy Number 1’

AR: ‘so, what is your utility to Exxon then, after the relationship cultivated and fertilized?’

BJ: ‘Understand this: I have delivered above and beyond.  I now have to look out for me first.’

AR: ‘too bad that Guyanese are such rotten ropes.’

BJ: ‘The choice for me is clear: to be Robert E. Lee or Ulysses S. Grant (loser or winner).  My first loyalty is not to Exxon; my first loyalty is to me.  For my own survival, I now have to appear to be about the Guyanese people and their interests.  I have to do much better, deliver real benefits’

AR: this is going to cost you.  Exxon is going to hit back hard.’

BJ: that’s Exxon call.  Now get this straight: I have always pulled the right card when it is politics involved.  I’ve always come out a winner in the power game.  So, what will it be?’

If only former president Jagdeo could have the courage and patriotic character to confront Exxon using some of his natural shrewdness, he could still emerge a big winner in the eyes of Guyanese and the world. I would be his strongest corner-man.  First, he must shake the albatross of quitter hanging around his neck.

(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.)

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• Bharrat Jagdeo, collapses, conversations, GHK Lall, Guyanese

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