Dear Editor,
Three distinguished persons in different walks of life have criticized former President Bharrat
Jagdeo for misleading the public in relation to the lifestyle of the late Presidents Cheddi Jagan and Janet Jagan, which he compared to his, and it is worrying that the PPP hierarchy has failed to criticize Mr Jagdeo for his false statement.
Former Speaker Ralph Ramkarran who was an executive member of the PPP was the first to rebuke the former President for his unfortunate utterance, followed by Nadira Jagan-Brancier, daughter of the Jagans who said that “my parents sacrificed their lives for the betterment of the people of Guyana. They did not use their position for personal gain which would have been very easy to do… they chose to live a very simple and comfortable lifestyle. Even when they were both presidents of Guyana they maintained the same simple lifestyle they had always lived before.”
Jagan-Brancier’s comment was substantiated by Dr Tulsi Dyal Singh, a well-known Guyanese-born physician who was one of Dr Jagan’s doctors, and who said in a letter to be published in the press that he visited Janet Jagan at her home just a few days before she died. He said it was a modest home and not at all comparable to any of the large homes recently constructed in Georgetown. He added that “I can attest too that President Cheddi Jagan postponed urgent and critically needed cardiac surgery by two months He died before it was done” because he was trying to delay his medical travel to coincide with an overseas trip he had planned before in order to save taxpayer dollars.
Dr Singh, who sponsored several scholarships, donated equipment and computers to schools and financed cricket tournaments, never knew that Dr Jagan had delayed his medical trip because he wanted to save the government from paying his airfare. He now regretted it and was in fact heartbroken that he had not pressed the PPP leader for his reason for not travelling at the time when he was advised to go urgently to the United States for surgery.
It is very unfortunate that the PPP General Secretary, although pressed by reporters, refused to comment on Mr Jagdeo’s misleading and unfortunate statement.
Yours faithfully,
Oscar Ramjeet
