Dear Editor,
Lancelot Wills’ letter titled ‘Two progressive presidents on one slate’ has the makings of comedy. Wills points to Robert Persaud as the presidential candidate and Bharrat Jagdeo as the prime ministerial candidate. The use of the word ‘progressive’ is what has me rolling in laughter. Haven’t we seen this two-man vaudeville show before? Isn’t Mr Persaud connected to the President through marriage? Mr Persaud has no place in close proximity to the presidency. He was handed the nation’s most critical sector on which to build his political profile and he failed. Miserably. Look at what has happened on his watch: GuySuCo, the Skeldon Sugar Factory, the Grow More Food Campaign, Mahaicony Rice Limited, the Venezuela rice deal windfall to farmers/ millers, €6 million loss due to failure to submit sugar action plan, empty pack houses, Demerara Gold dispute in Canada, defence of Barama over Norway’s Council of Ethics report. Where is the agro-processing, where is the ethanol production? There is the Hope Canal, pay inequities between bigwigs and small fishes in the sugar industry, the trampling of workers’ rights, declining productivity and production shortfalls.
Access to the inner sanctum of failed leadership is no criterion for power. The Guyanese people know the response to Mr Wills’ statement about Mr Persaud’s excellent leadership abilities. Many hands-on masters have been successful at failure. Forbes Burnham in his horseback riding, cassava stick in hand is a prime example. ‘Seasoned’ is reserved for veterans with proven experience, although Mr Persaud certainly has buoyancy.
But there is no charisma. There is certainly arrogance reminiscent of the guys that ruled from 1964 to 1985. If you want more shiny new buildings, lots of rhetoric, multitudinous photo opportunities, great appearances on camera, loads of money spent and more talk, more talk of more talk and more talk of action and more action of more talk then elect Robert Persaud.
I had commented previously on the possibility of this insidious plot to put Bharrat Jagdeo as the prime ministerial candidate. It would be a rank subversion of democracy. It would be nothing more than Mr Jagdeo getting his third term by Mr Persaud acting as a front. Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham would have been immensely proud. Lancelot Wills is no Sir Lancelot of the Kinghts of the Round Table; he is a Trojan horse. Maybe there is a plan for Mr Jagdeo to be prime minister and control the cabinet as de facto president, and for Robert Corbin to remain as PNC leader and control the PNC. If there is no majority win at the polls, the PNC and the PPP will form an alliance. Maybe this is the plan, independent or collective, of the two parties. The first line of attack would be to delay the vote by various means. If this fails, the ruling party will assess its position.
Yours faithfully,
M Maxwell
