Uncle Donald, Cousin Bharrat ya’ll deh live pun de radio.

Uncle Donald, Cousin Bharrat ya’ll deh live pun de radio.

I remember when Mr. Jagdeo first became President, even if you were not a supporter of the PPP there was a sense of pride to see a non greying person assuming the Office of the President and at a young age. He was in his 30’s and so the promise was there. Now as we look back we are reminded that a promise is nothing more than a comfort for a fool.

I am sure we have all seen the issue of the Jagdeo Friends and Family Radio Licenses Distribution and for the Donald Ramotar administration to attempt to convince us that Mr. Jagdeo was fair in that distribution is an insult for even their own supporters. It stinks and I do not know why in this land we find it so difficult to admit when we are wrong, correct the problem and move on. Instead, we will try to find 10,000 excuses to justify our ignorance.

Mr. Jagdeo spent 11 years as the President of Guyana, making him the longest serving Guyanese President ever and I wonder sometimes if he really doesn’t care about a legacy. For 11 years, he saw no need to issue radio licenses, but on the eve of his departure from office “young boy Bharrat” decided that he needed to leave a parting gift with some old buddies.

“Bobby you tek 5, Robert come fuh you 5, Mirror Mirror on the wall, tek 5 and make them bawl and ncn tek couple mo. The rest of ya’ll are hi and right friends, so tek a lil 1.”

That must have been how it went down and it was kept a secret until pressure from the private media and the opposition forced the Government to reveal who had what.
Guyana’s Frequency Problem

Now rather than Dear Uncle Donald correct that wrong and try to save his face, he is coming out to talk about who owned what before 1992 and who did what before 1992.

In case it has missed this administration, a child born in 1992 will be celebrating his/her 21st Birthday this year, some kids born in 1992 are already parents, some are being trained as doctors, some are studying to become lawyers, so yes 1992 was that long ago.

Mr. Ramotar, you are the President and as President your interest should be about not just the 49% that voted for you but also about that 51% that’s in control of the parliament.

And Sir you have got to do better. Do not try to sugar coat Mr. Jagdeo’s failure to be a fair leader especially on this particular issue. He did wrong. It is now over to you to correct that wrong and move on. How could folks even defend the distribution process when it ranks of mediocrity, selfishness and is vindictive.

Make the field a levelled playing one and correct the wrong. The private media owners have a voice too and their voices play an important role in the building of this nation. Their voices ought not to be only seen as important when it best suits this or any administration.

Life is not a choir, we can’t all sing to the same tune all the time but if we get our rehearsals right and learn from each other’s strengths and weaknesses then the song that we sing could be a song for a New Guyana, a song that will echo through this land from the Green lands of Barima Waini to the wide open spaces of the Rupununi and the hills of Linden.

And it should be a song we can hear clearly on the radio and not just the radio of a few friends, close and hi and right. That’s a page from my notebook.

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