Dear Editor,
Morality matters and there is nothing immoral or illegal about former President of Guyana, Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo becoming a Vice President in the next Government. Article 90 of the Constitution made it clear that “a person elected as President… is eligible for re-election only once”. So we are absolutely certain under this current Constitution, an eligible contender can only serve two terms. However, there is nothing in the law that prevents Mr. Jagdeo from serving at any other level and why should he be prevented? Isn’t he Guyanese?
This obsession that the PNC operators are having with Mr. Jagdeo being a Vice President in the next Government is an absolute non-issue. What people like me in the middle are looking for are leaders in Government who can expand our collective wealth inspite of the oil revenues. People like me are grateful for the 2015 elections and its results since today we have enough empirical evidence to make an informed choice – the PNC or the PPP. I certainly will not stake my claim with any untested small parties.
I have seen the PPP during their tenure expand the national income of ordinary Guyana by an annual average of 13% while the PNC’s record shows a performance of under 2% per annum. This is what truly matters, how much ends up in the pockets of the ordinary people. Today while Team Granger is jumping all over the place with an average salary increase of 9% for the workers, they have forgotten that it was Mr. Jagdeo who led from the front and paid the workers 31% and 26% salary increases in 1999 and 2000 respectively (aggregating to more than 57% increases over a two-year period). So I do not know whether it is a good idea to focus on Mr. Jagdeo since his record in office on many scores are far superior to Mr. Granger’s record.
The record would show that once upon a time I combatted Mr. Jagdeo when he was running for office on the big issues like the Amalia Falls Hydro Project (AFHP). My source of concern then was the cost of the construction of the AFHP at a price tag of close to US$1 billion. This Project was expected to put into the system 166 MW of green, low cost, and reliable electricity. If one measures the economic losses to the nation between 2009 to 2018 because of the underperformance of GPL, it is much more than US$1 billion. So with good economic evidence at my disposal today, I must say, former President Bharrat Jagdeo was right in conceiving the AFHP then. It is projects like these that will sustainably transform Guyana.
The records would show that Mr. Jagdeo had the foresight as President to think about Guyana’s human development many years into the future and that talent has to be captured. If it has to be at the Vice Presidential level – so what? Isn’t Mr. Jagdeo a born Guyanese? Does he not have internationally recognized talent? Does he not have the right sort of experience to help any future Government? So why should the nation not be allowed to tap into his skill set?
The issues confronting us cross party lines and it matters not who is running for office, but whether they have the capabilities to aid in the economic transformation of the nation. History has now given both the PNC and PPP a shot at running the country post-1992 and we the people have enough empirical evidence to judge them. From where I stand and with the evidence at my disposal, I’d much rather have a Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo in government making decisions for me than a President David Granger and his entire band of incompetents.
It is from this angle people like me, who today have no membership of any political party, have recently seen it fit to follow our consistent course of publicly taking a stand against those who are out to harm Guyana’s human development. Come on Mr. Granger, let us hear about your policies and stop this infantile obsession with Mr. Jagdeo.
Yours faithfully,
Sasenarine Singh
