Dear Editor,
As I read the news reports on Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo’s Press Conference last Friday, I could not help but think that the VP must have be very upset, that someone disturbed his peace and called him out to do the press conference, because he was off the scene for a while. So, I thought that he was probably thinking ‘I will just behave ‘bad’ and let them send me home, because I don’t even care, it is time I go home anyway’.
In a Kaieteur News report that was published on the 9 November, 2020 and titled ‘Remove ‘criminal’ GECOM elements before LGE – VP’, I thought that the ‘poor’ Vice President is probably tired of doing public service. Mr. Jagdeo has been doing public service since in his 20’s, I think. He later became Finance Minister and then at the age of 33, I think, he became President, and held that position for twelve years. Then he became General Secretary of the PPP/C and Leader of the Opposition, and now Vice President.
After about 35 years of public service, ‘poor’ Vice President must be tired. Maybe he should do what he told the BBC reporter in 2011 during an interview when he was about to the leave office as President. When the reporter asked him what he will do after he leaves office? He said that he will probably get into farming.
Now, I take objection to two aspects, based on reports from his press conference. The first is the Vice President discussing in public (or rather ‘threatening’ to ‘fire’) Dr. Mark Bynoe, Head of the Department of Energy, at a press conference, and indicating the possibility of giving his job to Dr. Vincent Adams.
Now, I know that the Vice President is no neophyte, he is ‘as smart as they come’, therefore he is probably floating the idea to get some feedback about whether key stakeholders would accept Dr. Vincent Adams for the position, however, it was grossly inappropriate and disrespectful to Dr. Bynoe, to discuss matters relative to his retention, at a press conference, in this way. Note that I did not mention the VP’s talk about Dr. Bynoe’s competence, because he has the liberty to discuss whether he is satisfied with people’s performance or not, but it would have been more appropriate to discuss Dr. Bynoe’s tenure, off camera. These matters ought to be dealt with in more dignified ways.
The other aspect that I found to be disquieting, was his reference to the staff at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) as ‘criminals’. The Vice President, as a senior public official was totally out of order, to refer to the staff of GECOM as ‘criminals’. I counted the number of times he made that reference in the news report and it was at least five times, so it was very intentional.
Now the Vice President must know that the staff at GECOM, were not found guilty of any crimes by any Magistrate, Judge or Jury, as such, they are innocent until proven guilty, therefore he owes them an apology for referring to them as ‘criminals’.
We all call people names in our private conversations, but for the Vice President to even think that it is acceptable, to refer to these staff as ‘criminals’, and at a press conference, not even in a private conversation, I find to be extremely disappointing.
While I understand that the Vice President may take issue with GECOM and some of the staff on certain matters, this in no way, gives him the prerogative to be disrespectful to them and the organization.
This approach by the Vice President is wrong and inappropriate on many levels. The President has stated that he is keen on setting up a Commission of Inquiry (COI) into recent elections events at GECOM, is the Vice President in anyway trying to influence the outcome of the COI with has reference? There are also several matters before the courts involving staff of GECOM, is he trying to influence to outcome of these matters? The Vice President must let the courts do its job.
I am also tempted to hint to the Vice President that he himself is a ‘forgiven son’. He, like many of us, have not achieved ‘sainthood’, much mercy has been extended to him. Nonetheless, if a wrong was done during the elections, then the law must take its course, without prejudice!
Another concern, is that the Vice President is a leader, as such he has followers who listen to what he says and the tone he uses and some of them may be influence to commit acts based on his utterances. Therefore, in my view, if Mr. Jagdeo is tired of Public Service, then the President must do him a favour and relieve him of this ‘burden’, otherwise I would expect the Vice President to show due respect in public, for our citizens and institutions; rather, for his citizens and institutions.
Finally, the Vice President must be reminded that it was the same GECOM staff (‘criminals’) who managed the Local Government Elections (LGE) in November of 2018 and his party was extremely happy with the results of the elections which were in favour of the PPP/C.
Yours sincerely,
Citizen Audreyanna Thomas
