Dear Editor,
My attention was drawn to a letter by Clement Rohee, telling, in his own words, “half a tale,” which was carried by your newspaper of August 14 instant (‘Mrs Jagan put forward five names for consideration to succeed her’). My first reaction was that he has left out the better half of the narrative, which is the whole truth.
What are the “historical facts”?
1. After the death of Dr Cheddi Jagan there was wide speculation as to who should be his successor as President. The names mentioned then included Ralph Ramkarran and myself.
2. That that was the case, should come as no surprise since in the 20 years as a Central Committee member, between 1976 and 1996, I had invariably ranked at party congresses among the most popular leaders, and had been in the frontlines of battle throughout the unbroken 28 years of the PPP in opposition at the side of the legendary Cheddi Jagan.
3. Dr Jagan recognized that, and he himself was to publicly identify me less than three months before his death as his possible successor as President of Guyana during a meeting in Lethem (November 1996).
4. That announcement had provoked the ire of Ms Jagan, who summoned me before the Executive Committee in the absence of Dr Jagan, after which I was informed by her that I would no longer retain the portfolio as Minister of Local Government and Regional Development (with simultaneous responsibility for Information and Amerindian Affairs).
5. Notwithstanding my popular standing, I was to announce at the death of President Jagan that I was not interested in party or state posts (meaning PPP General Secretary or PPP presidential candidate). I was interested in keeping the party leadership united during the transition and had cited for so doing in-fighting in Afghanistan and Ethiopia after the death/removal of charismatic leaders in those countries.
6. When we were discussing who could be our presidential candidate for the 1997 elections, Ms Jagan listed several leaders as possible choices. I was named by her, but she was to remind the party leadership that I had said that I was not interested.
7. My deep interest was at all times for us to be united during the emotional transition, and I was thinking about building Dr Jagan’s legacy in racial/national unity, which was why I stood back. I nominated Roger Luncheon as my presidential choice and Ralph Ramkarran was my nominee for Prime Minister.
8. However, when Ms Jagan accepted nomination, she immediately declared a condition for her acceptance to go up as presidential candidate: she wanted Ramkarran to be an alternative choice – that in case, for any reason, she could not carry on as President, he was to succeed her.
9. Ramkarran did not succeed as that alternative, and Bharrat Jagdeo was selected instead from a list of potential candidates.
10. At the Zeeburg PPP Congress (1998), after Ms Jagan was elected President, I received overwhelming support from my party comrades, coming second to Ms Jagan. Many comrades justifiably saw me as next in line though I had not expressed any disapproval with the Central Committee’s decision.
11. What happened next was to put the wedge between Ms Jagan and me, perhaps irreversibly. She accused me of rigging the Congress. Her allegations were investigated and proved to be without merit, and she apologized to me before the party leadership. But the damage was done: after the Congress though I had the second highest vote, I was not elected amongst the 15 members to the Executive Committee. I was co-opted to the ExCo on a technicality after I threatened to resign.
12. I had insisted that Bharrat Jagdeo be designated vice-presidential candidate before and Vice-President after, the 1997 elections, but that was not to be.
13. I was not in Guyana during August 1999 when the Central Committee met, when the “half-a-tale” told by Rohee allegedly took place. If indeed, that happened, and five names were put up as possible replacement for Ms Jagan, then I would think that that was a flagrant betrayal of the irrevocable decision that we took when we went into the 1997 elections, that Jagdeo would succeed Ms Jagan.
14. Rohee’s half-a-tale, I am sure, was not presented as a script for a ‘Five O’ show, but is an unimaginative attempt at revealing what for him should be Ms Jagan’s Last Will and Testament, that could justify my banishment from both party and state.
Yours faithfully,
Moses V. Nagamootoo