Published June 9, 2008 In Letters Srabroek News

Dear Editor,
At last Thursday’s launch of the new Guyana Times broadsheet, your newspaper reported that President Bharrat Jagdeo essentially described Guyanese businessman, Mr Yesu Persaud as ‘ignorant’ of the tax laws for simply suggesting that consideration should be given to extending tax concessions given to QAII (owners of the new paper) to other local businesses, and then proceeded to explain what aspects of the government’s agreement with QAII qualified for tax concessions.

From what I read in your news account, the President did explain that the newspaper’s owners would not be getting the benefit of duty-free concessions on their (printing) equipment and consumables; however their textile and antibiotics [ventures] will get a tax holiday.

Now, had Mr Persaud not made his suggestion, what are the chances the public would have known this bit of information the President revealed? In fact, what exactly does the public know about the details of the deal between the government and QAII? I noticed the PNC called for government to share this information, so what’s the status?

This is beginning to look like the government’s $165 million secret deal with Buddy’s hotel, for which the public still knows only what the government wanted it to know. What is similar between the Buddy’s deal and the QAII deal, however, is that when word of the Buddy’s loan got out and Stabroek News broke the story with pertinent questions, the President angrily lashed out at Stabroek News. In the case of the QAII tax concessions, the President has angrily lashed out at Mr Persaud for making a pertinent observation.

It is becoming frighteningly obvious that the President really wants a free hand to do whatever he pleases and if anyone questions him, s/he gets a public slamming. But with all the government’s talk about return of democracy, whatever happened to accountability, transparency and scrutiny in government?

Mr Editor, unless there has been a hitherto unknown frost or rift between the President and Mr Persaud, I can’t see why the President would use the word ‘ignorant’ in the same sentence that referenced Mr Persaud, especially given Mr Persaud’s national and international eputation that long predates the Bharrat Jagdeo presidency.

Apart from his use of the word ‘ignorant,’ the President tried to humiliate Mr Persaud by referencing the fact that Mr Persaud also had a business venture – medical transcription services –that obtained tax concessions, but which failed. Why would the President highlight this failure in his response? Is the President aware of Mr Persaud’s resumé as a business leader that even one or two flopped ventures cannot truly define the man’s venerated standing among his peers at home and abroad?
In closing, I have nothing against Buddy’s or QAII’s business ventures, but when the government gets involved in or associated with private ventures, it has to come clean with the public, or risk being questioned and criticized until it does. Moreover, while there are already three local dailies informing a country of 700,000, I see no financial wisdom in having a fourth.

How much is actually happening in Guyana that three existing tabloids and the PPP’s Mirror are not doing a good enough job reporting on? And to the President: what is it that the new daily would report as truth and facts that the state-owned Guyana Chronicle cannot and does not?
Something is not adding up here!

One has to seriously wonder whether the true rationale for a new daily is to thinly spread the wealth of ads revenue so that newspapers that don’t report what government likes will see their share of state ads drastically cut. The President would have made more sense if he had arranged for the issuance of a new radio licence and end government’s monopoly. But pettiness and vindictiveness are traits that no longer surprise!
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin

As the take over of Guyanese business customers by the Koreans shows, most of those left back home during the emigration boom are not particularly endowed with intellegence. If you elect a canecutter as president, don't expect a change in rumshop speak and mentality.

Wednesday Ramblings

Posted By Stabroek News On June 11, 2008 @ 5:01 am In Daily, Features | No Comments

Bharrat rips Yesu a new one
First it was Michael Correia at GuyExpo 2006, then it was “silly” Gerry daring to question the helicopter deal, and now Yesu….Is no-one immune to a good public ‘buse out from El Presidente?

Actually, no. Anyone who dares to show the slightest independence - this newspaper, the bar association, is grist for the Jagdeo mill.

And what a way to treat your friends in public. Ride them hard, mock their business failures, leave them utterly embarrassed. But what the heck; at this stage in his life Jagdeo has become the Rhett Butler of Guyanese politics: “Frankly, my dear Yesu I don’t give a damn.”

Comrades, this last chapter of the Jagdeo presidency will not be a lame duck two years, more like a sharp sting in the tail. Everyone stand in line and get your dose.

We knew it was coming last Thursday. Once he got up to speak and we heard that low robotic monotone…for Dr Who fans it’s the voice of the Dalek….one could sense he was supremely pissed about something. Our science department, on analysing the videotape has issued a report concluding that the Jagdeo Clone no 3 (launchings and conferences) may have malfunctioned. We’re looking into it.

However we’re not sure it was Yesu who set him off - we were too busy at the bar to listen to him anyway.

He was simply doing what all businessmen in this country have to do, beg for a little concession while worrying someone else is getting a leg up. After all it was never fully explained that the printing press was not duty free… This deal was hatched in the thoroughly opaque Go Invest (Remember the secret deal for Buddy…. The still secret hotel on the seawall deal) That meant Yesu could not know for sure what concessions had been given for what, and despite questions in the press, da Silva (apologise to award winning journalist Judy Fitzpatrick, now) had chosen not to give the whole story. So Yesu had a right to gently raise the issue in the absence of information.

Actually we have a more intriguing spin on the incident…If there’s one thing that gets El Jefe most pissed off, it’s when the United States issues some report on Guyana. He just can’t stand getting low grades from Uncle Sam. Be it the annual drug scorecard, their prognosis of the investment climate and last week the report on Trafficking in Persons, an issue that the US likes to use to beat small countries over the head, while its own citizens do a great job within the country. Take this report on tomato plantations in Florida.

(http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/04/21/030421fa_fact_bowe)

And let’s not get started on drugs.

Now, we have a feeling that Thursday night while Carvil Duncan was systematically kissing the Ramroop family’s feet, did he mention their dog? - …El Presidente was getting bored. So he snuck a peak at the new paper and saw the page three story, “Amerindian girls being exploited –US TIP report” and had a conniption, a fit… a total freak out. Next thing we saw him jump up from the head table and storm out of the Savannah Suite…body chucking invitees out of the way as if he was blocking for the Green Bay Packers.

According to eyewitnesses in the lobby, who cowered under the table covered in Ferrol liquid, he was screaming for several minutes at his bodyguards to “get her” on the phone, and as they fumbled to call “her”… he fumed, a whiff of smoke visible above his pate…A phone call later he looked no better and returned to his seat. Who was this mystery woman?

How ironic that a story in this newspaper, which he claims will not wallow in sensationalism or inaccurate reports, might have got him so riled up.

So what did Jagdeo do? He tore Yesu a new one. He picked on the biggest guy in the room, whose rum many guests were enjoying, and who had just happened to stand up for the rights of the private sector. It’s a crime these days. (We honestly don’t know what has happened to the PSC of late but this government has it so beaten down they resemble roadkill)

Jagdeo went off… practically calling Yesu ignorant…and mocking him for two ventures that went bust…

And when he sensed the crowd was slightly offended he just blurted out: “I don’t care, you know me I’m controversial…” as if it was a badge of honour.

Well maybe it was all a grand plan to give them a juicy story for the front page ‘cos sure enough… Guyana Times had “Jagdeo slams Persaud…” (The word slam is really getting worn out…like lambaste)

And better yet the irony of all this it that the so called “beacon of truth” newspaper has yet to fact check what Jagdeo said: that the concessions for the textile and antibiotic units were granted under the tax act. It took the reviled “biased”, “sloppy” Stabroek News and Chris Ram to point out the relevant Act on Sunday.

But what the heck. Who goes to a launch to listen to the speakers? It’s to drink, eat and meet ministers past, present and future. There was the svelte High Commissioner Bhattathiri Kurrukal Guhathakurta Ronald Gajraj who reportedly arrived on an elephant. However he wore a suit, and not his customary dhoti. What a sellout! As our friend observed it was very dotish.

Finance Minister Ashni Guptar Chakladar Singh claimed to have no control over the release of the inflation figures, even while President Paschimakabata Kogilagaddi Jagdeo said we should, “Ask Ashni…see they accuse me of micromanaging…” Well the CPI figures remain hidden even as they play a childish tag team.

So after all the rum was done, all the fancy prawns gobbled what does this newspaper, This Beaker of Truth, represent?

We’re not sure but overnight the other papers felt slightly diminished: The Unmentionable, no longer the self proclaimed people’s rag, instead descending with its dead bodies into the gnashing ghetto; the Stabroek somehow for the diehard news junkies, the gloom and doomers, a refuge for those with a conscience (what the hell is that?); and finally with its phony letters and sycophant headlines, the Chronic looks utterly terminal. Pull the plug. Let The Misirable Impremsonator write its obituary.

Certainly the Guyana Times represents the culmination of sixteen years of PPP rule, the breathtaking rise and wealth of a new business class, the domination of the political and social space. And yes it will succeed because as its name suggests, it truly is a paper reflective of the times.


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It's time this guy goes back to a desk job. I think he is at a loss since the debt forgiveness negotiations are over.

Yesu Persaud is more aware of the tax laws than Jagdeo, one of Yesu's first job when he came back from England as an Accountant grad was at Inland Revenue in the GPO building.

Well, he has the time to be in Britain to meet with Brown who has major domestic issues to confront,given the reported dramatic increase in child and pensioner poverty in the UK.I doubtful that Brown has time now to advocate for reforms of Bretton Woods etc.Rather than spend so much time jet setting to major cities, Jagdeo,Museveni,Manning and others should focus on fundamentally restructuring their domestic economies.

quote:

Originally posted by Sunil:
Yesu Persaud is more aware of the tax laws than Jagdeo, one of Yesu's first job when he came back from England as an Accountant grad was at Inland Revenue in the GPO building.

Tax laws are there to be modulated and adjusted to stimulate investments and economic activities. If the law does not facilitate it, then the law should be put to debate for ammendment. Was Mr persaud referring to that or to an existing law? Ignorance of the law is irrelavant if one is calling for a stimulus.

Jagdeo suffers from a complex (don't tell me what you know but listen to what I know) the same as flogging a dead horse does no good.
Water on a duck's back.

quote:

Originally posted by duckers:
Jagdeo suffers from a complex (don't tell me what you know but listen to what I know) the same as flogging a dead horse does no good.
Water on a duck's back.

The man is under a lot of pressure from his enemies.. Pressure makes the pipe burst.. If you meet him, he is actually a really nice guy.. he will rebound..

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:

quote:

Originally posted by duckers:
Jagdeo suffers from a complex (don't tell me what you know but listen to what I know) the same as flogging a dead horse does no good.
Water on a duck's back.

The man is under a lot of pressure from his enemies.. Pressure makes the pipe burst.. If you meet him, he is actually a really nice guy .. he will rebound..

I can attest to this statement.

There is a side to this personality that is quite likable - even funny. Nice guy.
But, as President, he has outlived his usefulness.

quote:

Originally posted by BLACKBEARD:

quote:

Originally posted by Ramakant_p:

quote:

Originally posted by duckers:
Jagdeo suffers from a complex (don't tell me what you know but listen to what I know) the same as flogging a dead horse does no good.
Water on a duck's back.

The man is under a lot of pressure from his enemies.. Pressure makes the pipe burst.. If you meet him, he is actually a really nice guy .. he will rebound..

I can attest to this statement.

There is a side to this personality that is quite likable - even funny. Nice guy.
But, as President, he has outlived his usefulness.

That is why the constitution prevents the President from running for a third term....

Somebody else will run and before long this GNI will be screaming bloody murder..

quote:

Originally posted by BLACKBEARD:

The man is under a lot of pressure from his enemies.. Pressure makes the pipe burst.. If you meet him, he is actually a really nice guy .. he will rebound..

I can attest to this statement.

There is a side to this personality that is quite likable - even funny. Nice guy.
But, as President, he has outlived his usefulness.[/QUOTE]



Blackbeard,

Second that opinion! Jagdeo seemed to have been holding down the fort for the PPP until the executive could get the Ralph Ramkarran-Moses Nagamootoo imbroglio out of the way.

In political circles, when a man like Ramkarran can show up at a meeting like the last one in Queens, New York last weekedn for Guyanese business types and make a policy-type speech, he is usually seen as the political shadow of something to come.

I don't know much about his political experience, if any, but if he is seriously in favor of the private sector being the engine of economic growth, WITHIN THE CONFINES OF LAWS, I'll give him a second look! He has to come up with some viable plan and vision and not just rely on running on the party list for President.

Jagdeo is like the guy who drank a lot of salts and sat on the bowl hoping for a motion. After a whole day, he whimpers, "HERE I SIT ALL BROKEN HEARTED, TRIED TO SH!T BUT ONLY FARTED!" Jagdeo is still full of it!