Opposition Leader Jagdeo: Why the PPP/C Lost! – By Dr. Dhanpaul Narine
Bharrat Jagdeo
They came even in the rain. These were the diehard supporters that wanted to hear why the PPP/C lost. It was the first time that the PPP/C would engage the Queens community after the May elections in Guyana.
Queens has long been a stronghold of the PPP/C and the memories of Cheddi Jagan meeting New Yorkers are still fresh. Cheddi was known to work the crowd and even if you didn’t agree with his politics you ended up respecting him. It is no secret that the PPP, under Cheddi, was well oiled machinery when it came to national elections.
He understood the concerns of the ordinary person and he related to them. But Cheddi left us and entrusted his successors to carry on the job. After twenty-three years in power the PPP/C lost the May 2015 elections and are now confined to the Opposition benches. What went wrong? Bharrat Jagdeo is the former President of Guyana and he is currently the Opposition Leader.
He was in New York to meet the community and the party faithful wanted answers. They wondered what he had to say. Mr. Jagdeo realized this too and he deftly sought to deal with the many questions that were asked. But first he had to introduce the issues as he saw them.
He began by saying that, “The next elections we will win outright and will be back in office. We are going to work very hard to ensure that we win a landslide victory.” Mr. Jagdeo said his aim was to give a perspective as to what took place leading up to the elections in Guyana. The questions on most people’s mind were: how and why did the PPP/C lose power? What were the reasons? Were the 2015 elections different from those in the past?
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Why did Black people wait until 23 years?
OCTOBER 12, 2015 | BY KNEWS | COLUMNISTS, FREDDIE KISSOON
Ethnic instincts are very strong. In ethnically riveted polities, racial incitement is easily whipped up. People have a part of their mind that they assign to irrational sentiments so they are vulnerable to ethnic propaganda. But equally competing (perhaps the analogy is Freud’s distinction of the competing EGO, ID and SUPEREGO) is a part of their mind where rationality fights and inevitably overcomes the vulnerability to irrationality.
Two vivid examples are so phenomenal that they must be described. Black South Africans accepted that after the election of Mandela to the Presidency, they would have to co-exist with Whites rather than confront and defeat them and that even if Mandela had enemies in the Black population that would have used race to incite Blacks against Whites, the South African Blacks would not have done so. This is what is called the rational mind.
The second example was the election of Barack Obama. In 2008 even if all the non-white and Black American voters had given Obama all their votes, he could not have won. White Americans balloted for a Black candidate in substantial numbers. This is where the rational mind shuts out racial incitement.
There is constant exodus of American born Jews to the US from Israel. Three decades ago, American Jews migrated to Israel in huge numbers. But the return began more than ten years ago because American Jews are not happy with the war-mongering attitude of Israeli born Jews toward a Palestinian state. The rational mind is not a fertile bed for race hate.
This has been a long introduction to the analysis below of some aspects of Jagdeo’s race-baiting speech in New York last week. Jagdeo spoke about GECOM staff being predominantly African Guyanese. From 1992 to 2015 and up to the time of writing, GECOM’s staff has been predominantly Black. From 1992 up to May 2015 when the PPP lost the General Elections, the police force and the army have been predominantly Black.
Mr. Jagdeo was speaking to an exclusively Indian audience. The PPP draws its support exclusively from Guyana’s Indian demography. It is natural then for Indians to offer the PPP leadership, now in opposition, a sympathetic ear. But the rational mind has to kick in. Here are some counter-arguments to Jagdeo’s advocacy in New York that the Indian rational mind has to accept because rejecting them can only be done by a mind that is irrational.
If Black employees in GECOM rigged the 2015 election to put a Black party in power, why did they wait for twenty three years during which time Mr. Jagdeo dominated Guyana for fifteen years and pursued Indian hegemony?
I did a study of Jagdeo in power titled; “Ethnic Power and Ideological Racism: Comparing Presidencies in Guyana.” That study, replete with names and statistics, reveals that the engineering of ethnic placements in the public sector in general was extensive and intensive. In the first twelve years of PPP tenure – 1992 to 2000 – there were large-scale ethnic replacements in the public sector. Under Jagdeo’s reign, Guyana’s class structure went through deep transformation.
If Hoyte’s Economic Recovery Programme birthed a nascent Indian nouveau riche stratum, by the time the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabal lost power, that formation had displaced the traditional Indian commercial petty bourgeois and Indian landed oligarchic class. So intricate was the intertwining between class and ethnicity, that African-rights activists had leveled a charge of economic genocide against Jagdeo.
The rational Indian mind, if it accepts Jagdeo’s arguments and accusations that he used in New York, has to ask itself just one logical question. If Blacks in Guyana so hated the PPP and frenetically wanted the Indian government removed, then why did a Black GECOM, Black public service, Black police force, Black army wait for twenty-three years.
The most banal analogy should suffice. I wanted to steal your new car badly. Why would I wait until you batter it up for twenty years then risk police intervention by stealing it? That is something you only find in comic books. And comic books are the perfect phrase to use to dissect that New York speech of Jagdeo.
Jagdeo is telling Indian minds that one day in 2015, Black people in GECOM woke up and said, let us rig the elections and throw out the PPP. If they did do it, then it will remain Guyana’s greatest puzzle as to why they waited for twenty three-years to act. The rational Indian mind has to reject the comic books Jagdeo gave them in New York last weekend. Gecom didn’t rig the 2015 elections. The PPP lost because of Jagdeo’s arrogance, power madness and insane corruption.
Instead of post postmortems , complaining, whingeing, comrade Jagdeo should be focusing /concentrating/commenting on what sort of an opposition he intends to be. A lame duck, or a determined opposition. Fighting to protect the rights of his supporters.
If my assessment is correct he will not change his spots but continue the corrupt practices he engaged in while in power…..defrauding the Guyanese people of a bit better future for all.
Corruption his legacy ! Sad that he has been allowed to remain “free” and “in politics” …….most politicians resign after losing power and give others a chance to lead their flock to victory in the next contest. Shameful disgraceful comrade Jagdeo.!
In a democracy institutions must be more important than individuals. The PPP has the right to have its concerns addressed. Discussing Jagdeo’s character or wondering why Blacks waited for 23 years are inadequate responses. With a population so small there is no excuse for the mess surrounding the last elections.
In jagdeo s case “character assassination” is not necessary here….he has lost and the honourable exit would have been his “resignation” ….but by clutching at straws to retain power shows the character we are dealing with. Too desperate to survive.
Now my post mortem….
Step aside and give another leader a chance.
As per labour party leadership in ukplc after milliband lost to Cameron.
It does not matter size of the electorate the principle remains same.
Question …where is comrade Ramotar.?
Sorry Guyana’s politricks is not unlike politics everywhere.
Let’s see how things develop before more speculation.
I have to disagree with you on this one, Thinker. The character of a leader is pertinent and crucial to the success of any group, as small as a club to as large as a nation.
No one in the know will want to question Jagdeo’s pettiness and arrogance. What we are talking about is the running of an ELECTION. Trinidad was able to give results shortly after midnight. Same for the Scottish referandum. Why all the problems with the declaration of the results of the Guyana election? Can anyone really be happy with how it was run? Lots may be happy with the eventual results, but that is not the issue
Why does Dr Narine use so much of his useful energy to tell us about Jagdeo’s complaints and leaky excuses. We all should know by now what really happened, at least those of us who paid attention.
Lets look at the future and wish for better days in Guyana.
This is exactly my point. We DON’T know what really happened. If we really want democracy GECOM has to be much more transparent. We have gone through almost 50 years of crap not to get it right soon. Why should Guyana have this reputation of not being able to count properly?
Do you all think guyana belongs to PPP?with all the shit PPP doing and its one sided governance…..get a grip. Jag is you all god not ours
Lynda, Jag ain’t my god. Race is not the issue. There were too many problems with the Guyana ELECTIONS.
It follows…..let’s learn from the mistakes by not repeating them…..less we be seen as “fools” in paradise !
Way forward please !
Jadgeo refuses to believe that the PPP own actions were more to blame for their defeat, than the coalitions policies or leaders. Starting with his own personal life and how the projects were put together and implemented all sowed the seeds of their demise. Ad hoc management, incompetence, corruption,crony capitalism, arrogrance and secretcy all contributed to their fall from grace. Failure to listen and admit mistakes, instead of seeing everything as a political attack was their greatest public weakness. Political appointees change with the party, and if predominately one race then that race will more likely be dominant. However, the policies and merit must be even handed and the national good must take priority otherwise there is no participatory government.,only one sided ones.
A very honest analysis of things political in the Guyana situation with the predictable outcome inevitable. Let’s hope they all learn from their mistakes.
….by not repeating them.
Policies is what matters most in politics and how efficiently and effective they are implemented. It is how they will be judged next time round.
Anti corruption openness and transparency top of the agenda.
3 years to change and 2 years to complete is more than enough time.
We shall see ! Time will tell.
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