On December 3, 2011, Bharrat Jagdeo assumed the status of a ‘retired’ president. His twelve-year tenure had been more than twice that of any of his predecessors. Even today, in retirement, he is still considerably younger than any of his predecessors were at the start of their respective presidencies.
During the earlier months of 2011, as general elections loomed, there had been talk about finding ways to circumvent the two-term limit clause in the Guyana constitution which Mr Jagdeo had himself signed into law and which precluded him from serving a third consecutive term in office. That matter was put to rest after Mr Jagdeo had declared that he would not stand for a third term; after that, the matter of the likely future of a forty-seven year-old retired President became the subject of some measure of public discourse.
In the months that followed Mr Jagdeo gave few real insights into what direction his life might take once he ceased to be President Jagdeo. By that time he had turned his attention to publicly throwing his weight behind Donald Ramotar’s nomination as the PPP/C’s presidential candidate. Mr Ramotar, of course, lost no opportunity during his own campaign to provide assurances that Mr Jagdeo, whom he described as “a national treasure,” would play an important role in his government, were he to be elected to office.
On the day that he demitted office Mr Jagdeo addressed the media on the matter of his post-retirement plans with some degree of specificity. At the same time he responded publicly to the earlier commitment which the now newly elected President Ramotar had given regarding a role for him in his administration. On the latter matter he was quoted by a section of the media as saying that he was neither interested in “a formal position in the government” nor in “anything full-time.” In fact, Mr Jagdeo was quite specific in terms of what his preference would be. “If I were to assist it would be on a pro bono basis and it would only be taking part of my time,” is what Mr Jagdeo said, adding, seemingly for emphasis, that he wanted nothing to do with “an eight to four job in the government.”
Of course, one never seriously expected that a recently retired President would accept an ‘eight to four’ under a new presidency though it is likely that Mr Jagdeo’s pro bono stint will, at least in the first instance, last for some time since it will have to include the full and effective handing over to his successor; that would include bringing President Ramotar up to speed on some ongoing matters requiring his personal attention, and generally seeking to ensure as seamless a succession as possible.
Sooner or later, however, that exercise will come to an end and though Mr Jagdeo will probably continue to serve as an advisor of sorts – possibly on a case by case basis – for a longer period, a point will be reached – and he has said so – where he would want to give fuller attention to his personal future and his private life.
Age will lend an unconventional shape to Mr Jagdeo’s retirement plans. Democratically elected presidents usually do not serve as many years in office as former President Jagdeo has, and even those who have served for much lesser periods usually find themselves out of office at least twenty years older than Mr Jagdeo is today. By that time plans for life after the presidency usually centre around spending more time with families, becoming more familiar with grandchildren born during the presidency, writing memoirs and returning to some long-neglected passion – perhaps golf or gardening.
What we have learnt about Mr Jagdeo’s plans for life after the presidency suggests that he is not quite ready for the armchair life of an elder statesman. He wants, he says, “to walk down Regent Street,” though one hopes that he understands that except he does so in heavy disguise he will attract the kind of attention that will do his stated desire for “privacy” little good. That apart he wants to travel around the country, hang out with his friends and write about climate change. “I want to be here for a while…” is what he is quoted as saying, a pronouncement which suggests that spending a part of his life out of Guyana is not something that he has ruled out. That may have to do with the likelihood that he might eventually accept one of the three “lucrative” job offers which he says are open to him and which, he says, he is yet to consider.
Add to all this the constitutional provisions that generously address the material needs of a retired president and Mr Jagdeo appears to have been offered an opportunity afforded few, if any, other retired heads of government anywhere. Apart from his secure material future it is his relative youth coupled with the multi-faceted experiences accumulated during his twelve years in office that makes life beyond the presidency a potentially rewarding prospect that he would hardly have envisaged when he first embarked on a political career.
