By GHK Lall-I have a confession to make; though belated it is better than never. There was also the need to wait for that defining moment, so as to stand assured about what is projected into the public domain. Bharrat Jagdeo, Guyana’s former president, current president-in-chambers, and champion national standard bear for oil is the GOAT. He is more than in a class by himself where certain matters are concerned. He is the greatest of all time (GOAT).
Some headshaking is still going over here to clear the haze with his latest rice n’ spice offering. Guyana’s oil strongman Dr. Jagdeo (try figuring that one out – a doctor and a wrestler in one body) said that Guyanese are benefiting from their oil. “I pointed out that our total, the aggregate savings in our banking system, now total for Guyanese companies and also individuals, might be around $8 billion that’s all of our savings. Every one of us, the money we have in the bank, plus the companies, 8 billion US dollars.”
My head is numb, I am in awe, cannot believe that he would be so outlandish as to make that statement. I wish that it were true in every aspect. But what the Mighty Jagdeo did this time was promote a monkey and then pull a donkey out of his bag of verbal tricks. Yes, it is that big of a bag. Because this big man was a former Guyana head of state, it would be untoward of me to challenge him. Thus, I invite him, so I can steer him into a sensible corner. That is, one where wise people sit and think.
Guyanese are benefitting from this oil, so Dr. J has that one right. Ah, but the devil is in the details that must be sweated. Most of that “$8 billion that’s all our savings” is the property of Guyanese businessmen and businesswomen. They rake in the big profits; they can make the big deposits into their savings accounts. I give Mr. Jagdeo credit for trying to wrap his savings blanket around all Guyanese. He, however, is dead wrong on this part: every one of us”.
No sir, it is not everyone in the Guyanese demographic. Dr. Jagdeo lives in Prado-Ville, so he doesn’t rub shoulders with the poor people of Guyana. When he is on the elections campaign trail doesn’t count. What is he going to make his priority and ask: how much savings in the bank comrade? Or, rather than knowing the answer and smart enough not to embarrass himself by opening unhealed wounds, he would be more focused on something to this effect: ah yuh bettah cum out and keep dem PNC peeple outta deh.
He has a more than better idea about why Guyana’s old people are so much in a hurry to collect their old age pension books. It is because, Mr. Jagdeo, that is all they have, their lifeline, and nothing in the bank as a savings cushion. Further, political leader turned banker Jagdeo knows all too well the accuracy and substance of SN’s weekly cost of living series, where 10 Guyanese cry their pain and plight before the world. I am not saying that it is all of them, but quite a few of them don’t have a dime or a dollar in the bank.
To cut this close to the bone, many Guyanese don’t even have bank accounts, with the cash grant initiative (checks) prompting Guyanese to rebalance their skimpy money portfolio. To put differently, either collect cash as soon as they can, or get in line and open a bank account. From his own mouth and that of the president, the disclosures were of cash payouts to Guyanese in the outer regions.
Those were all necessary to accommodate Guyanese who were never inside of a bank, don’t know what a savings account application look like, or where to start with it. So how are those Guyanese saving, Master Banker Bharrat, and how can they when they can’t make ends meet in a man eat baby world? If a world class smart man like Jagdeo were to retort that dem throwin bax haan, then my rebuttal is that does not feature in the banking sector books, hence, such is not, cannot be, a part of his $8 big ones saved.
The people in the money are his own bigshot PPP Government cronies and comrades. It is to those categories of Jagdeo’s company that small-minded Guyanese attach a dirty label: 4-F (friends, family and so forth). In the US Army, 4-F signifies failure to make the grade. In Guyana, the 4-Fs are the ones who win the fat contracts, feast off the fat of the land, and live like fat cats. They are. Unsurprisingly, they are the ones who have fat savings accounts, feature prominently in that $8 billion savings number.
The fact that Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo came up with that savings lifesaver is by itself a great leadership miracle, the handiwork of a spectacular spin doctor. He butters the bread of Guyanese with his savings gymnastics not only on both sides, but also butters the plastic bags in which they come. Hands down, Bharrat Jagdeo is Guyana’s GOAT, greatest of all time. Everybody, savings account or not, should hold their hands up in agreement.