-says Ramkarran was Mrs Jagan’s first choice to replace her
PPP stalwart Moses Nagamootoo has reiterated that he was publicly identified by the late President Cheddi Jagan as his possible successor and he also disclosed that current Speaker Ralph Ramkarran had been the late President, Mrs Janet Jagan’s first choice to succeed her.
His statements were contained in a letter in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek in response to a missive to this newspaper from his PPP colleague and Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee.
In his letter, Nagamootoo also made the stunning disclosure that he had been accused by Mrs Jagan of rigging the 1998 Zeeburg Congress, something he was later cleared of and for which accusation Mrs Jagan apologized.
Rohee’s letter in the August 14 edition of SN had been responding to an August 11 SN review of the 10 years of the presidency of Bharrat Jagdeo wherein it was stated that the party leadership had been split between Nagamootoo and Ramkarran as to who should succeed Dr Jagan when Mrs Jagan proposed Jagdeo as a compromise.
Rohee stated in reply that when Mrs Jagan decided to demit office as President of Guyana, the Central Com-mittee of the PPP had met and five names were considered as her replacement but Nagamootoo’s was not among those. Rohee corrected this statement in a letter the following day which appeared in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek and clarified that he was speaking about the position of General Secretary. However, he also apparently made a mistake in his original letter about the timing of the meeting as the discussion about who would replace Mrs Jagan had been decided on at the time she had launched her campaign for the Presidency and not at the time she had decided to resign. Rohee’s second letter did not clarify the period error. He said “The situation I referred to in my letter remains factually correct. Save and except, the post debated at the Central Committee at the time with respect to the five names recommended by Comrade Janet Jagan was not the presidency but the position of General Secretary of the Party. Further, since the two posts of General Secretary and President were combined in one under Dr Cheddi Jagan, the first task facing the party was to separate the two posts and then to identify a General Secretary from the five names recommended by Comrade Janet.
“Later, having completed that task, the Central Com-mittee then proceeded subsequently to identify a comrade who would eventually succeed Comrade Janet should she not be able to continue. This was exemplified in the decision to announce the ‘A’ Team, namely, Janet Jagan, Samuel Hinds and Bharrat Jagdeo at the 1997 elections campaign. In neither of the two scenarios referred to above, was Comrade Nagamootoo’s name proposed nor was there a split in the leadership as regards a Nagamootoo or Ramkarran candidacy.”
Nagamootoo was not aware that Rohee had dispatched a clarification to his first letter. In his letter Nagamootoo, who had been seen for sometime now as a strong contender for nomination as the PPP/C presidential candidate repeated information he had presented before about an event at Lethem before the passing of Dr Jagan.
He said that after the passing of Dr Jagan there was wide speculation as to who should be his successor as President and his name and that of Ramkarran had been mentioned.
“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”, Nagamootoo asserted.
He said Dr Jagan had also recognized this 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)”.
For the first time, Nagamootoo revealed that Dr Jagan’s announcement “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 Amer-indian Affairs).”
He added that notwithstanding his popularity he announced at the death of Dr Jagan that he was not interested in party or state posts. “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”, he stated.
He said when the party was discussing who could be its presidential candidate for the 1997 elections, Mrs Jagan listed several leaders as possible choices and he was named by her but she reminded the party leadership that he had said that he was not interested.
“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”, Nagamootoo disclosed.
He then revealed that when Mrs Jagan accepted nomination to be the presidential candidate – she had told the nation that Dr Jagan had told her on his death bed that he wanted her to carry on – “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.”
Nagamootoo said that Ramkarran did not succeed in the ensuing deliberations as that alternative and Jagdeo was selected instead from a list of potential candidates.
A former information minister in Dr Jagan’s government, Nagamootoo said he had received overwhelming support at the Zeeburg PPP Congress in 1998 and many had justifiably seen him as next in line though he had not expressed disapproval with the Central Committee’s decision.
“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.”
He charged that “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.”
At the August 2008 congress of the PPP, Nagamootoo placed 5th in voting for the central committee. He said at the time that he saw his comeback as a re-affirmation of the desire of the party’s rank and file for the strongest possible unity in the leadership of the party. Nagamootoo had not attended the previous congress after a falling out with the party that related to a controversy between Jagdeo and expelled PPP central committee member Khemraj Ramjattan. It had been expected in PPP circles that Jagdeo would have found a senior portfolio for Nagamootoo – foreign affairs or home affairs but this did not materialize, leaving the PPP veteran on the sidelines.
With President Jagdeo’s last term coming to an end in 2011, observers say that the jockeying to be named the PPP candidate to replace him could be well underway. The letters also come amid a recent poll done by the North American Caribbean Teachers Association (NACTA) which showed that Speaker Ramkarran and PPP/C General Secretary Donald Ramotar are early favourites to succeed President Jagdeo.
The latest survey was conducted in mid-July to find out peoples views on, among other matters, their preference for President to succeed Jagdeo. It interviewed 780 individuals (351 Indians, 242 Africans, 109 Mixed, 78 others) representing the diversity of the population. It was co-ordinated by Vishnu Bisram, a political scientist, pollster, educator and newspaper columnist in New York.
Asked who they would prefer as President, Ramkarran polls 15% and is closely followed by PPP General Secretary Donald Ramotar with 14%, Opposition and PNCR Leader Robert Corbin with 12%, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud also with 12%, former PPP/C Minister Nagamootoo with 10%, AFC Leader Raphael Trotman also with 10%, and with several others trailing in single digits.
In rating Ramkarran as the top candidate, potential voters describe him as a politician of integrity who will be a fair leader. Non-Indians see him as a non-racial person who can help to bring healing to a divided nation. Ramkarran is particularly liked by voters in the urban areas and by the middle and business classes.
Ramotar is well liked among party loyalists and Amerindian voters but some see the need for him to improve his public image and persona. Nagamootoo is liked by long time rank and file members of the party with appeal also among non-Indians who say he will be a just ruler. Robert Persaud has wide appeal among younger voters and people from among the farming sector. They feel he is maturing well since becoming a Minister and would make a good President with more training.
While there has been talk that President Jagdeo would seek a third term – and the NACTA poll had found that he would win if he ran again – political observers see the likelihood of this as dim even though it is believed that he is interested in continuing. Several other outside possibilities have been floated including that he could be part of a PPP/C ticket a la Putin/Medvedev in Russia.
