Dear Editor,
The Christmas Day edition of the state-run Guyana Chronicle had as its lead story the PPP General Secretary’s announced intention of running for the presidency in 2011, but after clicking on the “read more” tool, there was nothing more to read. Hopefully this was just a technical glitch and not an omen for Mr Donald Ramotar.
But on a more serious note, I did read a previous Stabroek News article in which a simple survey of some leading PPP members was conducted to ascertain who might be the party’s 2011 preferred candidate, assuming President Bharrat Jagdeo definitely does not seek a third term, and the name to beat was Speaker of the House, Mr Ralph Ramkarran.
I recall asking, via a published letter, for Mr Ramkarran to at least make a case for his candidacy if he was ever interested in running. He never responded. The same was asked of Mr. Moses Nagamootoo in 2005 when, during a New York visit, he signalled his intention to be his party’s contender in 2006; but he, too, never responded. Today, I ask Mr Ramotar to make a case for his candidacy, focusing on any three major areas that would be front-burner issues he’d like to see tackled if he’s elected. Hopefully he responds and bucks the trend.
Mr Editor, I am one Guyanese who was very much open-minded to the PPP’s return to power in 1992 after 28 years, and I must say I am terribly disappointed in the way it has managed the country, but the economy in particular.
Starting with Dr Jagan in 1992, Bank of Guyana statistics reportedly show the economy started nose-diving after he took over; a bad sign that the country was veering off the course that his predecessor, Desmond Hoyte, had painstakingly steered it with positive results. Then Dr Jagan died suddenly in 1997, leaving us with what has turned out to be a circus of a government.
On his deathbed, he bequeathed the presidency to his wife, even though she was neither his deputy nor a minister in his government, giving the impression of an absence of succession planning, and the continued absence of a viable vision at the leadership level for a rapid economic recovery and development.
In retrospect, her job as president was to basically hold the pieces of the party together to ensure her husband’s passing was not used by opposition elements, or even ambitious PPP stalwarts, to make their own waves.
That she would cite poor health midway her tenure as she stepped down and then helped give the nation its current president, further confirmed a lack of vision, because President Bharrat Jagdeo was not really elected based on any nationally articulated vision for Guyana, but on pure party credentials. It was what a group of PPP leaders thought fit and proper for Guyana! It was what Mr Ramotar, himself a member of an older generation, referred to as giving a younger generation a shot at national leadership.
Today, by many accounts, the President appears to be a likeable person, but when Guyana’s adverse socio-economic circumstances are weighed against its potential, he has not delivered in a big way. He barely keeps the shop open for business with just enough stocks on the shelves. It’s a barely-getting-by mentality when it should have been a more-than-enough mentality.
So, in a nutshell, because of the manner in which both he and Mrs Jagan were selected or chosen within the party framework to become President, and given the current abysmal performance of the PPP in government, it is imperative that future PPP candidates vying for the presidency be required to publicly share their vision for the people and the economy.
And if Indian Guyanese, who traditionally vote PPP are going to vote PPP again in 2011, they should at least help play a more meaningful role by forcing the PPP to respect their intelligence enough to have its candidates publicly articulate their positions on hot button issues.
That half of them who were eligible to vote stayed home at the last elections should signal to the PPP that, despite the PPP’s victory, the PPP is not immune to avoidance by its support base. Indian Guyanese have to stop voting pure race and start voting pragmatic reasoning. It is no longer about the PPP versus the PNC, but the present versus the future. Who is the best candidate that can take Guyana into her future securely and quickly?
All Guyanese, but especially Indians, have to demand that the PPP’s communist mentality of choosing a candidate behind closed doors deliberations and then foisting him/her on the people has to cease with immediate effect. It was this mentality that helped collapse the USSR, because selected leaders chosen in secrecy kept everything a secret, including the fact that the economy was sinking like the Titanic.
All Guyanese, but especially Indians, should be asking: Who is Ralph Ramkarran? Who is Donald Ramotar? Who is Moses Nagamootoo? Not in the contexts of their ethnicity or political affiliation, but their capacity to deliver on behalf of all Guyanese! What is their track record on delivering the goods?
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin
