Dear Editor,
President Bharrat Jagdeo’s pathetic public protestations against the recent US narcotics report on Guyana may have won a few nods of approval and a scattering of sympathizers, but at the end of the day, he is the President of a country that is a major transshipment point for illicit drugs, with its spin off effects on money laundering and gun running.
What, if anything, does he plan to do about this?
When he stated that America has its own drug problems despite having all the resources to combat the scourge, he is absolutely correct. It is something I, like many others, have long observed.
But what President Jagdeo seems not to understand is that the American economy is sustained largely by legal businesses, even though illegal businesses thrive right under the noses of the authorities. What can he say is largely responsible for sustaining Guyana’s economy?
If President Jagdeo agrees with the US narcotics report that Guyana’s informal economy is responsible for anywhere between 40 and 60 percent of the formal economy, doesn’t he see he has a major problem on his hand? Or is he simply trying to run out the clock juggling between Guyana’s formal and informal economies for the next four years when his term in office is up?
I think that rather than trying to look good in the eyes of an already discerning public by trying to portray America as being no better than Guyana in the drugs war, the President needs to do the right thing and take steps to help make Guyana better.
Making Guyana better in the fight against illicit drugs does not merely benefit America, but Guyana also, because Guyana is such a small country, with a small population and an underachieving economy, thereby making it extremely vulnerable and susceptible to the fall out of illicit drugs. America, on the other hand, has trained personnel and a variety of physical /material resources it can tap into if illicit drug wars get out of hand.
And even those in authority know they are not immune from prosecution should they be found taking bribes or on the payroll of drug barons. It is a totally different story in Guyana.
The Roger Khan revelation of using his resources to help fight criminals and save the day for the PPP regime may be seen as a good thing by some, but in reality, if Khan gets convicted in the US, it comes down to the fact that he, a criminal, was allowed by the PPP regime, to use his ill-gotten resources to fight other criminals. This could set a dangerous precedent in Guyana where government, itself short on cash and resources, is willing to work with shady characters associated with the drug trade while running normal businesses.
The Guyana President may also have a point when he said that Colombia gets billions to Guyana’s meager millions from the US to fight the illicit drugs trade; it’s not fair. But if more money or resources lead to more efforts, why hasn’t President Jagdeo seen it fit to follow Trinidad and have the US DEA set up an office in Georgetown?
After all, America is the one complaining so let America produce the means to help wage the fight, even if that means and includes a US DEA Georgetown base.
If the US DEA keeps on tracking and trapping Guyanese in transit in Trinidad suspected of dealing drugs to America and elsewhere, and these Guyanese are known businessmen in Guyana, not only does it make the PPP regime look bad; it makes the PPP regime look like a facilitator, even if the regime stoutly denies this.
Guyana is not the only country named in the US narcotics report as being used by drug smugglers, but it has a unique opportunity to do a whole lot better if its President can stop being defensive and combative and, instead, develop the vision needed to take Guyana to the next level rather than relying on an informal economy to prop up the formal economy.
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin
