Dear Editor,
The highly publicised debate over the sacking of Navin Chandarpal is not unexpected. The action by President Bharrat Jagdeo is a clear demonstration of the high level of desperation on the part of the ruling elite. He has shown absolute contempt for the Guyanese people and those who placed him there. Anyone, regardless of his or her status in the ruling Peoples Progressive Party, PPP, will face a similar fate, once he or she becomes a threat. The PPP lost control of the government (if they ever were in control), when Bharrat Jagdeo assumed full management following the last general election.
Those in the leadership of the PPP were marginalized, or allowed themselves to bribed or bullied by the current administration. Many of these people did not have financial resources prior to coming to office in 1992. Is it not ironic that they all voted for a ridiculous pension fund for Mr Jagdeo? There has been no criticism from any of the PPP members of Parliament. Not one. That says a lot about the extent to which the party has lent itself to corruption and squandermania now running rife in the country.
As the situation deteriorated, it became more difficult for them to act, since many of them found themselves in the employ of state agencies or indirectly benefited from various contracts and the like. One prominent member of the PPP said early last year to me that the time was not ready to act, “dialectically speaking.” He is a typical example of what has happened to activists and supporters inside the PPP. So while Rome was burning he and others were folding their hands, rather than trying to out the flames.
The current PPP leadership is well aware of the fact that when the masses are ready to move nothing and no one will be able to stop them, and the writing is on the wall, hence the outburst of people like Chandarpal, who is, arguably, the most politically and academically educated and principled person left in the PPP. He has a long history of personal sacrifice and dedication to the advancement of all the working people of Guyana; someone, who commands the respect of decent and hardworking PPP activists and supporters. He is the best material for party leadership, but alas he has been too modest to take up the mantle of the long-standing giant, Cheddi Jagan.
Donald Ramotar, the current General Secretary of the PPP, has been a complete failure. A good talker, but is pretty useless when it comes to developing anything. He does not have what it takes to be a leader of a Workers Party and he should understand that. He lacks the ability to move the party into a broader mass-based organisation, capable of meeting the challenges of the 21st century. His attempt to become the President will be a disaster.
The fact that he denies that there is a real crisis in the country and that large sections of the members and activists of the party have become completely disenchanted with the Jagdeo administration, demonstrates his inability to understand what is taking place in the country and in the PPP. The PPP must be radically transformed as a truly democratic mass organisation of the working people of this country, capable of allowing the concept of “criticism and self criticism” to prevail – a concept enshrined in the party’s Code of Practice, which is printed on the membership card of the PPP.
Guyana’s future currently hangs in a balance and one has to be very careful not to throw away the baby with the bath water. The current style of governance must be discussed, not in the context of changing one ruling elite for another, but what type of programme and policies can be evolved to benefit the overwhelming majority of the working people of our country, where racial tolerance must be high on the agenda.
Yours faithfully,
M Jinnah Rahman
