On Tuesday Vice-President Jagdeo and several ministers journeyed to Linden for an outreach at Watooka House. This was a perfectly normal and useful exercise except that these are extraordinary circumstances. With the July 18 sinking of the MV Barima and the loss of 73 lives and possibly 30 others who are missing and presumed dead, 76 traumatized survivors and at least 100 families left to pick up the pieces, the ground has shifted and dramatically so. While it was not a seismic event in terms of the earth shaking it is no less an event in the context of disregard of hinterland communities, decrepit infrastructure, systemic failures, power imbalances and a culture of unaccountability. Life will not return to normal or begin to do so until there is a reckoning.
So, while Mr Jagdeo’s ministrations to the people of Linden and Region 10 would no doubt have been welcomed by those who were helped his avoidance and ignoring of the much larger and incensed gathering outside of Watooka House emphasized how the government is disconnected from the reality of the situation and why the anger over the lack of immediate accountability for the deaths rankles so viscerally.
While the breaching of the precincts of Watooka House by the protesters was unacceptable, what was even more deplorable was Mr Jagdeo’s failure to speak to them. He waited an unusually long time at Watooka House perhaps in a test of wills and when leaving could only muster with a sheepish smile an insulting “y’all had a full day”. So much for engagement. So much for the One Guyana that the President waxes lyrically about. Those who ventured to Watooka House to meet Mr Jagdeo and the ministers entered the One Guyana matrix while those outside were considered renegades, excluded from the government’s plans or consideration.
And what were the people outside of Watooka House seeking assurances and answers on? Most urgently it was the question of ministerial accountability for what had transpired on July 18 in the Atlantic. The convention in all mature democracies is that on the occurrence of a tragedy of the scale of this one the subject minister offers his resignation failing which the President delivers the coup de grâce. This is a deformed democracy. There is no such culture of ministerial accountability so perhaps that was good enough reason for Mr Jagdeo not to engage with the protesters. The demand for accountability has gone far and wide and won’t subside easily. Region One communities left bereft won’t forget the failures along a broad swathe that forced the MV Barima to remain in service.
As the Parakeese Area Council, Moruca in Region One put it on Tuesday “A state-owned ferry, nearly a century old, carried our brothers, sisters, children, and elders under conditions that should never have been accepted. Allegations of poor oversight, including the transport of passengers and cargo without proper documentation, have deepened the pain of a disaster that claimed more than seventy precious lives, while many others remain unaccounted for.
“Behind every number is a name. Behind every name is a family. Homes have been torn apart, generations forever changed, and dreams washed away in the cold, dark waters. Parents mourn their children. Children cry for parents who will never return. Entire families have been left with an emptiness that words cannot describe”.
The other major concern of the protesters is the failure after nearly a year to have a Chair and Vice Chair elected in Region 10 in consonance with the results of the September 1st, 2025 general elections. This is a long-running denial of the democracy to the people of the region. Who is to blame? It is clear that the Regional Executive Officer and the one before him have been given the fiat not to act so that the status quo could be preserved in some manner and that there would be no risk of We Invest in Nationhood taking up the chairmanship of Region 10 with the vice chairmanship possibly going to Forward Guyana Movement and shutting out the historic dominance of this council by the PNCR with the PPP/C playing a supporting work.
So for all of the sanctimonious talk by President Ali about a healthy democracy, he is presiding over the emasculation of the established voting system and has uttered not a word. The same goes for his Minister of Local Government, Ms Manickchand and the ruling PPP. Mr Jagdeo probably wouldn’t have known what to say to the protesters.
Let’s for argument sake say that the shoe was on the other foot and for some reason an election had been held and the PPP was improperly being denied the Chairmanship of Region Three. What would happen? There would have certainly been a ruckus. It mustn’t be forgotten that not so long ago the PPP/C failed to get into office for five months after winning the general election and it was civil society here, the media and the international community which kept up the pressure that allowed President Ali and all those who are denying democracy in Region 10 to enter office on August 2, 2020. The failure to have the Chair and Vice Chair elected in Region 10 is an abomination and undermines each effort made by the President to present a picture of respect for democracy. It must be brought to an end and the least Mr Jagdeo could do after sidestepping the protest is to communicate this to his government and the ruling party of which he is General Secretary.
Discussion