…and the PM
In charge of the State media, PM Nagamootoo awarded himself a column in this Sunday’s Chronic – “My Turn”. It’s a Freudian slip, since he promptly launched into an attack on his bete noir, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo. One wonders whether he’ll allow Jagdeo “his turn”. Your Eyewitness doubts it, ‘cause everyone in this Government sees their stint at the wheel as “their turn” to commit all the things they described as “despicable” under the PPP.
But your Eyewitness would like to offer some wise advice to the PM from an unlikely source — Michael Jackson. But then a verse in the Book of Psalms in the Bible has this to say about God, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength”. In the “Man in the Mirror”, the lyricist (not Jackson, incidentally) says in the recurring chorus: “I’m starting with the man in the mirror/ I’m asking him to change his ways/ And no message could have been any clearer:/ If you wanna make the world a better place/ Take a look at yourself and then make a change.”
The verses each describe real-life dire situations in the world that scream for change, and maybe we can take the same examples Nagamootoo used to flay Jagdeo to show where Nagamootoo should change himself and do something, rather than just blame others. HE is in government, and is the PRIME MINISTER, no?
Nagamootoo criticises Jagdeo for saying there can be poverty in Guyana IN the midst of expected oil revenues. If his govt destroys sugar, rice and forestry, aren’t they fulfilling Jagdeo’s prediction of a “Resource Curse”?
Nagamootoo brings up sugar, but wasn’t it he who had assured sugar workers they wouldn’t lose their jobs when Granger said the industry had to be closed down?? How can he now defend the arbitrary closure of three Estates with no alternative employment provided, or even in sight??
Has he gone to the hot and dusty streets of Wales and asked any of the men, women, or children — who have no income now that 1700 of them have been fired? Is he not bothered? “This wind is blowin’ my mind:/ I see the kids in the street, with not enough to eat/ Who am I to be blind, pretending not to see their needs/ A summer’s disregard, a broken bottle top/ And one man’s soul/ They follow each other on the wind ya know/ Cause they got nowhere to go/ That’s why I want you to know.”
Nagamootoo should realise, “I’ve been a victim of a selfish kinda love/ It’s time that I realize/ There are some with no home/ Not a nickel to loan/
“Could it be really me (Nagamootoo) pretending that they’re not alone?”
…and forked tongue
Nagamootoo boasts of being a writer, and he actually wrote a book. In “My Turn”, he confirms the book Henree’s curse was a piece of fiction. He opens thusly: “REACTING to a hurricane of negative statements being made by the Opposition, a coalition supporter advised: “Don’t worry wid dem, PM”. As I looked at her, she added: “They speaking wid forked tongue”!
Nagamootoo then goes into a long and laboured explanation of the phrase, “forked tongue”: “When a person is accused of speaking with a forked tongue, that person is said to be hypocritical, duplicitous and misleading. The statements by that person would be riddled with half-truths, falsehoods and distortions. It is hard to believe someone who speaks with a forked tongue.”
Now, let’s get real, dear readers: which person who speaks to a Prime Minister in the vernacular, “Don’t worry wid dem, PM”, segues into allusions to “forked tongue”? If that expression were that common, why the tortured (and tortuous) explanation? Clearly it’s another Freudian slip.
Nagamootoo knows HE cannot speak, but with a “forked tongue”.
…and broken dreams
Poor Nagamootoo. All his angst is from not getting to be President. As Michael sang: “A willow deeply scarred, somebody’s broken heart… And a washed out dream.”
