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By Dr. Vincent Adams
As many have already pinpointed, Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo has unquestionably secured his top spot in the annals of iconic harbingers of falsehoods; but as if that is not enough to fill his appetite, he now revels in humiliating the President of our country; verbally assaulting the press; blabbers about technical stuff, and enviously attacking Guyanese with the highest levels of academic and professional credentials, insanely fulminating that they are “not technically capable”. He is so possessed with delusions of grandeur, that his small mind leads him to believe that he is embossed with all knowledge, including technical.
At the risk of committing blasphemy, one ought to not mention great names as Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey into the same conversation with Jagdeo. Unlike Jagdeo, they are big enough with the grace and civility to appreciate an honorary degree for what it is and will never demand that the title of Dr. prefixes their names. Since he is not equipped to attain his long-craved fantasy, he jealously and vexedly lashes out at those who have, with his “vindictiveness”, proudly avowed to being part of his repertoire. He has failures stamped all over his forehead, had the audacity to call me a clown and to disparage Dr. Janette Bulkan and the Oil & Gas Governance Network (OGGN) – all with decades of extensive international credentials in academia and industry, dedicated to the solemn duty of giving back to our native land. I had rather be an honest clown than be a crooked leader, any day.
Any decent, competent and un-corrupt leader who does not kowtow to the interests of Su and Exxon above their own people, would welcome with open arms, the knowledge and wisdom coming from the voluntary services of such a high-powered cadre of sons and daughters of the soil devoted to giving back to their beloved homeland. It is obvious that Jagdeo just can’t stomach any advocacy for the rule of law, transparency, accountability, financial norms, environmental protection, education of the people, and good governance. Nevertheless, these patriotic accomplished Guyanese will not be deterred from serving our people, by someone who has to remind the nation that he is “not insane”. Which sane person has to do that!! We are more than happy with who we are and not miserable souls with rage against the world except for the likes of Su and Exxon.
To add insult to injury, he asserts that one is not Guyanese if they do not live in Guyana. His barb bespeaks his divisiveness of our people and divulges that the sham “One Guyana” doesn’t even include the diaspora. As deh seh, “what a sober mind conceals, a power-drunken mind reveals”; or, “mouth open, story jump out”. I hope the cash-cow friends in Queens, NY, are paying attention, for his ungratefulness is conspicuous; but then again, maybe they don’t matter anymore while Su is still around. This man has no respect of person including his boss, His Excellency Irfaan Ali, as he embarrasses and humiliates him in a most classless way. The nation and world have great empathy with H.E. for being in the unenviable position of a titular President under the bullying thumbs of his VP; but as if this VP’s usurping of power is not enough, he has to make it his mission to let the world know that he is in charge by putting down H.E., publicly.
It has to be painful for all Guyanese to see the pictures made public when the VP takes over H.E.’s position in one-on-one engagements of foreign dignitaries, with H.E. seeming to be taking notes on the side, or standing around looking on meekly. In another instance, the man even took over H.E.’s chair at the head of the table; and we all know how he publicly nullified H.E.’s recent MOU with the Dominican Republic. Most heartbreaking though, it would have been one thing if the diaspora and the press were the only ones that feel Jagdeo’s wrath, but how about the poor communities of Success, Amelias Ward, Mocha, Hillfoot and Jetty – all with countless women and children suffering the inhumane fate of being mercilessly thrown out of their meager shelters to become homeless in order to fill the pockets of Exxon and his rich friends.
He lays bare his further heartlessness when he openly lambastes the Opposition, decrying that all they want to do is talk about spending the oil monies on feeding the people instead of spending it on projects. What could be of a higher priority for the leader of a country to feed and house its poor? And lest not we forget the cruelty meted out to the striking cane-cutters amongst our poorest, barely eking out a living with an immoral $2,900 per day in the richest country, and with whom he refuses to meet, so as to sadistically punish them even more. The only thing that tickles this man’s fantasy is to enrich Su, Exxon and his friends with further impoverishment of our people. The great Cheddi Jagan must be rolling in his grave! To the few dozen or so who go through the agony of watching his press conferences, they are nothing but a disgraceful spectacle of self-aggrandisement, disrespectfulness, buse-outs, foolishness, and his angry rage.
Even the self-publicist and braggadocio that he is, he can’t lay claim to any accomplishment during his four terms as President and usurped Presidency and Finance Minister, but he surely will go down in infamy with the litany of scandals that wreaked havoc on the nation during his time, including one to which he may have admitted at Dr. Roger Luncheon’s funeral. The sad truth is that because Mr. Know-it-all is really an empty vessel having no intellect with a questionable 1st degree, and who scorns having his technical people around him to help out, he has to spend his time resorting to name calling and big buse-outs. His Putinesque and Trumpian anti-democratic and insulting behaviour should be of grave concern to the nation and should be condemned and protested by not only the Guyana Press Association, but by all Guyanese, and his press conferences should be boycotted by the Press Association.
Let’s face it, not even his closest cabal of friends whom he has made fabulously rich, would honestly deny that this man’s only forte is to rule by fear – which spells totalitarianism. This Putin wannabe is the same man who went to great lengths to pull off a Putin stunt to turn our constitution on its head just to fulfill his ambition to be leader for life. The ABC countries had better watch him! For this is how they start.
(From Stabroek News)
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About the author
Dr. Vincent Adams was Head of Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the APNU+AFC government. Prior to that he was Head of the United States Department of Energy (USDOE). Dr. Adams holds a BS in Civil Engineering & Public Health Engineering; two MSs in Petroleum & Geological Engineering, and Hydrogeology; two years as PhD Candidate in Petroleum & Geological Engineering; a PhD in Environmental Engineering; and Executive Diploma from in Leadership and Management from MIT.