Bharrat Jagdeo keeps people up at nights: there are those who are working late into the night because he has them working on various projects on behalf of the Guyanese people and Guyana; and there are people who are sleepless because they have to figure out what next they must fabricate to discredit him. The handful of people trying to discredit Bharrat Jagdeo vie with the majority of Guyanese for whom BJ is a hero. But the few who hate BJ have a platform like newspaper columns, radio shows, etc., and money to pay people to protest. For this handful of people, everything that might be wrong in Guyana is BJ’s fault.
Too much rain, the gods are angry with BJ. Not enough rain, the gods are angry with BJ. The West Indies did not make it to the ICC ODI, it was BJ’s fault. Trotman and several of the PNC (APNU/AFC) people went to Texas and signed a one-sided deal with EXXON in which EXXON benefitted the most, it was BJ who made them do it. I have not heard them yet say that it was BJ who is responsible for the Israel-Palestinian War, but none of us should be shocked if they find a way to blame BJ for this calamity.
They blame BJ for Venezuela’s bellicose and bullying tactics and its claim to two-thirds of Guyana’s territory. Some have even suggested that there might be some signed document that BJ agreed to make a deal with Venezuela to settle the claim Venezuela has made to Guyana’s territory. There is no limit to the fabrications, the misrepresentations, the misinformation the Jagdeo-obsessed critics make. Their most recent fabrication is that BJ signed a document giving assurance to settle the Venezuelan false claim in Venezuela’s favour.
This is the reason, in their conspiracy-filled minds, why Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo did not speak in the Parliament in the recent sitting, wherein a resolution was unanimously passed condemning Venezuela for its warmongering against Guyana. Incidentally, the signed document they are referring to was a document signed by Desmond Hoyte agreeing that Venezuela could be granted rights to a lane in the ocean in Guyana’s territory for shipping purposes. Venezuela included that document on page 88 of the submission they made to the ICJ back in 2018. But his critics knowingly falsely attribute the document to BJ.
It is true that BJ did not speak in Parliament on the motion to condemn Venezuela for its belligerence, for its threat for the forceful annexation of two-thirds of Guyana’s territory, and for its forceful changing of the citizenship of all those who live in those parts of Guyana. But we all know, including every one of the Jagdeo-obsessed critics, that BJ was one of the main architects of the resolution that was passed in Parliament. Those who doubt that BJ was a major architect of that resolution simply do not know how the PPP works.
Every major decision, such as those dealing with Venezuela, would have both President Irfaan Ali and VP Bharrat Jagdeo playing a significant role in deciding what the final resolution would be.
Having decided, through thorough consultation between the Government and the Opposition, that each side would have five speakers, the PPP chose the five speakers who would have some relevance to the subject on hand. The motion was moved by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Minister was supported by the Prime Minister (constitutionally mandated Leader of the House); the Attorney General, the legal focal point for dealing with this matter; the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, who spearheaded the consultation with the Opposition to have an unanimously supported motion in Parliament; and one of the MPs who represent a border community. It is that simple. BJ does not necessarily have to speak on every matter. In fact, BJ has always chosen to give his MPs every opportunity to speak in Parliament, since he also is the Party’s main communicator in weekly press conferences.
But the fact is that the Jagdeo-obsessed critics have to scrounge around the cesspit to find anything to blame BJ. In their conspiracy-messed-up minds, they now want Guyanese to accept their theory that Jagdeo’s middle name is EXXON, and that he is under the total supervision of Allister Routledge.
Ask yourself this: who would Routledge and EXXON rather deal with, BJ or Trotman? Had Granger, Trotman and others been there still, no audit would have been done and the US$214M EXXON claim that auditors rejected would have gone through, robbing Guyana of more than US$107M.
Who permitted almost unlimited flaring? It was the original deal the PNC-led APNU/AFC signed with EXXON.
It was BJ who ensured that any flaring done by EXXON attract hefty penalty. Was it not the PNC-led APNU/AFC who allowed EXXON not to harvest the gas? It is BJ who forced EXXON to harvest the gas and make it available to Guyana, creating another industry for which Guyana gets 100% of the imminent profit, and from which Guyana will create cheaper energy. Who created the new PSA that will have ring-fencing, that forces companies to pay taxes and hefty bonuses, that will ensure Guyana gets higher royalty and still equally share the profits? It is the BJ-led Guyana team. If EXXON were controlling BJ, would any of these things have happened?
This past week, one of these critics decided to utilise hysterics by alleging BJ had his brakes severed to cause grievous bodily harm. BJ’s critics have gone stark mad, pulling out any hair they still might have, as sleep eludes them.
