I vividly remember the scathing attacks by the People’s National Congress, the Working People’s Alliance and the Alliance For Change (AFC) on the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and Bharrat Jagdeo for not creating more jobs for the people. Today, A Partnership for National Unity/AFC coalition lies that job creation is not the role of the Government.
APNU/AFC governs not on any vision of a better Guyana, but on a mission to destroy the legacy of Jagdeo. Yet the harder they try to demolish the legacy of Jagdeo, the more his stock rises and the more APNU/AFC and its leaders are diminished. In fact, President David Granger is becoming more the Emperor of Spite, PM Nagamootoo the Witch of Spite and APNU/AFC the Spinner of Spite. If floods come tonight, as sure as day follows night, APNU/AFC and its leaders will find a way to blame it on Jagdeo.
People ask why is it the APNU/AFC hates Jagdeo so much. It is simple. None of them – from Granger to anyone else in his Cabinet – can hold a candle up to Jagdeo. It is a miserable feeling getting up everyday knowing they cannot measure up to Jagdeo. They are furious that Jagdeo dares to go to Linden, a town that APNU/AFC thinks they own, and be mobbed with admiration. Jagdeo is smarter, has more common sense, more vision and is admired by those who support him and those who supported APNU/AFC in the last election. Granger and his band of incompetent and visionless Ministers rose to power and occupy their present positions riding the wings of derision of Jagdeo and the PPP. It is, therefore, infuriating that each passing day, Jagdeo is more admired and APNU/AFC faces intense derision.
APNU/AFC has turned the business of governing into a competition among themselves to see who can tell and repeat the most egregious lies against Jagdeo. A few weeks ago, Ministers Patterson and Harmon announced that Jagdeo had given out all the licences for all oil blocks for oil exploration. It turns out that the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission published a map proving that there are significant numbers of blocks still available. Not only was it a lie, it also turned out that during the 12-year terms of Jagdeo, he never issued a single licence. The licences issued so far were issued by Janet Jagan before Jagdeo became President in 1999, after 2011 by Donald Ramotar when Jagdeo demitted office and after May 2015 by APNU/AFC. This week, Minister Trotman admitted that Government is in the process of issuing more licences.
The public is fed these lies on a daily basis, if not directly by a Minister, by a surrogate, including their surrogates in the media, like the Kaieteur News. People opened up the newspapers on Sunday to find a blaring headline in the Kaieteur News that Queens Atlantic, a company owned by Dr Bobby Ramroop, was given a six-acre plot of land at concessionary rate. The article was written in such a way to blame Jagdeo for Queens Atlantic being given the land. Turns out that was another lie. Dr Ramroop and Queens Atlantic bought the land from a private owner and the purchase had nothing to do with Jagdeo or the PPP.
The litany of lies boggles the mind. APNU/AFC lied that Skeldon Factory was built at a cost of US0 million, when it was US5 million. They lied that there were numerous unpublished contracts, but they refuse to publish them when challenged. They lied that Jagdeo went to Texas to meet with ExxonMobil. Jagdeo never did. They lied that Jagdeo signed the feasibility study for the new Demerara River bridge. There was no such study under Jagdeo. The pre-feasibility study was done in 2014. They alleged Jagdeo amended the Petroleum Act in 1997 to include a non-disclosure clause. Jagdeo was not President and there was no such amendment in 1997. They lied that Jagdeo is delaying the appointment of the Guyana Elections Commission chair, when Jagdeo has sent three lists with 18 distinguished Guyanese and Granger has rejected two of the lists and after two months, has not responded to the third.
I can fill this whole issue of Guyana Times with the lies APNU/AFC tells every day. The mounting heap of lies represents their obsession with Jagdeo and their infuriation with the outpouring of admiration across Guyana for Jagdeo. The PPP since 1992 rebuilt Guyana and began the process of modernisation. That is the legacy the APNU/AFC fears and wants destroyed.
