Just a few weeks ago, whilst reviewing from a very personal perspective, the six decades of the People’s National Congress (PNC), I recalled the political crossovers of two ideological players.
One was the Trinidad-born Ranji Chandisingh, once Cheddi Jagan’s loyal thinker, who switched sides to become a senior Minister in and General Secretary of the PNC under its “Founder-Leader” LFSB. The other was/is Henry Jeffrey, socialist thinker-teacher (Cuffy/Kofi Ideological College?? Who changed sides to befriend Cheddi Jagan and served in several top PPP Ministerial positions before he (Henry) could take no more of President Doctor Jagdeo’s arrogant manipulations.
Well, it’s a Henry Jeffrey commentary which inspires these observations which follow. I refer to his 25th October Wednesday Column (Future Notes).
For starters, that column’s caption `Bullshit cannot perennially baffle brains’ indicated perhaps a rare departure from the Stabroek’s more cautious, restrained conservative editorial style. (Jeffrey himself was quoting the “B” word from a lecture by an “eminent” British Journalist.) Of course, the thrust of the column dealt with the Granger-generated controversy regarding his method and choice with respect to the new Chairman of the Elections Commission. The Ideological-oriented Jeffrey- now a worthy political analyst now blessed with practical hindsight- really seemed to be accusing the President of trying to “baffle” the brains of the uniformed and the indifferent with his own unique interpretations of what the Constitution means when it comes to selecting a chairperson for that particular Commission. What a strong, harsh B-word to describe Presidential waffling!
