Dear Editor,
Of recent there has been a lot of speculation in the print media about who the PPP/C presidential candidate will be. A lot of names are coming up but the question is, whom do we select? Discussions on proposed candidates in the dailies have stirred much argument over the past.
The PPP/C General Secretary Cde Donald Ramotar who is the head of the party and has been holding the party together despite differences among senior party comrades. Cde Ramotar served the party as General Secretary from 1997 to present. He has many ideas and much experience in the political, economic and social spheres and is able to enter international negotiations with world leaders. Cde Ramotar studied Economics at the University of Guyana and did the world’s Marxist Review in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
During the period 2001 to 2006, when the opposition forces were attacking the party and government it was Cde Donald Ramotar, Dr Roger Luncheon and President Bharrat Jagdeo who stood up and defended the party and government’s policies as well as the working class. Cde Ramotar who serves on the GuySuCo Board as a director has made significant representations for the sugar workers over the years and still continues to do so in close collaboration with GAWU.
There have been suggestions that outgoing President Bharat Jagdeo is supporting Cde Ramotar. If this is so it is highly commendable and visionary because the President has seen much potential in Cde Ramotar.
Cde Ramotar has made a significant strides and gains in the sugar and rice industry working with the grass roots people, and this is what matters the most.
How many senior party comrades, with the exception of Cde Ramotar and Cde Harripersaud Nokta have ever gone to Black Bush Polder, Crabwood Creek, Charity, the Rupununi Savannahs and Orealla, among other places, to meet with grass roots supporters and party comrades? Just a few.
Meetings of party groups across the country are being held monthly, and many senior Central Committee members find it very inconvenient to attend out-of-town group meetings which would boost comrades’ support, and provide encouragement and motivation.
In the West on Trial Dr Jagan made it very clear that it is the foundation that you set down which will take you to victory. We have entered 2011 and elections are due by August, and by now all party comrades have a clear picture as to where we are heading. I hope that the Executive Committee and the Central Committee make the right selection whether by secret ballot or by the showing of hands, and elect Donald Ramotar as the PPP presidential candidate. Let’s rally around Donald Ramotar for a next PPP victory at the polls.
Yours faithfully,
Vijay Ramdas
PPP activist
