Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee yesterday said that his “political DNA” is indicating to him that he is ready to become the next PPP presidential candidate.
“My political DNA is telling me that I am ready. Whether I am going to be accepted as a candidate or not, well that is up to the comrades in the leadership of the party,” the minister told reporters yesterday during a press conference at his Brickdam office.
Rohee is one of the four persons who have publicly indicated an interest in being the party’s next presidential candidate; the others being Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran, PPP General Secretary Donald Ramotar and executive member Moses Nagamootoo.
Asked why he had decided to enter the race, the minister said it was the very thing he was contemplating while having cornflakes for breakfast yesterday morning. “I think I am ready for it,” he said. “I was looking at a documentary of how Theodore Roosevelt became the president of the United States… You know he was afflicted physically when he went up to become a candidate he had suffered from a stroke… But I don’t think it is my intention to suffer from a stroke… I think physically health-wise I think I am okay,” the minister said.
He added that there is that feeling, even though subjective, “that you know you are ready for something, you can know you are ready for something and I have a feeling that I am ready for it.”
The minister said he has accumulated enough experience in and out of government as he spent a number of years as a politician–something he said should not be dismissed easily—and those years of struggling in the trenches should not be ignored.
Rohee is of the opinion that anyone who passed through the sixties and seventies in Guyana, remained in the country and was in the “trenches, because you can pass through those years and stand from the rooftop and look down at what is going on or be in the middle…” must be known by the people.
He said he has always been in the middle and on the side of the party and as a result he is well known among the party supporters and no one can ask “who is he or where did he come from.
“And I am not boasting but I feel confident that I wouldn’t have a problem now that my name is out there… I have never heard anybody asking who is he; they might ask why me but never ask who is he.”
And the minister said his chances of being selected the candidate are as good as any of the others vying for the position.
“I think my chances are just as good as everybody else, I think it all depends on your force of argument and how you put forward your case to convince the others sitting listening to you…”
He said he is depending on the “good judgment” and the knowledge that his colleagues have of him
Rohee, in written answers to questions submitted to him by demerarawaves.com prior to the press conference, said that a person does not have to go to school or be a university graduate to become the president of a country. “…My political schooling in the opposition and my 19 years in Cabinet and as a minister of the government has put me in good stead. I feel ready and able to do the job. I have the energy and lost of ideas. But the party leadership decides.”
Secret ballots
Meanwhile, on the issue of whether secret ballots should be used in the voting process of selecting the candidate, Rohee said it was the party executive that would have to make the decision.
Ramkarran has called for this voting process, but President Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday had labelled it dangerous. The Head of State said candidates can promise persons things in order to get them to vote for them.
For his part Rohee said he was not going to be involved in “public polemics as regards PPP housekeeping matters in order to gainupmanship over other comrades who are vying for the top post. That is not my style.”
Stating that he is sticking to the Code of Conduct the party has agreed on, Rohee said he preferred to rise above the fray since what is required is political statesmanship. “This is also applicable to the current public debate on the matters under discussion,” he said.
“It is not because you don’t see my face on the TV or the newspapers regularly promoting myself that I should not be taken seriously.
“Don’t be fooled by my low profile in the media. I know when and where to press the correct buttons.”
He said that media seems to be creating preferences and giving prominence to one individual over another but that does not surprise or discourage him
And Rohee said he is not promising anyone anything to get their votes nor has he been promised anything.
“Fundamentally, I am depending on the knowledge my comrades have about me; my strength and weakness over the 44 years I have been in politics. They know what I stand for; they know my views on things.”
The only thing he wants is an opportunity to put his cards on the table and to tell his comrades why he is the best candidate for the party.
Jagdeo said on Monday that he was going to publicly declare who his choice for the position was. When asked about this, Rohee said he was not worried about who the President gave the nod to and stated that as one of leaders among the 15 and 35 in the party the president is free to indicate his preference and why.
“Of course people will be interested in knowing who is President Jagdeo’s choice. This is quite alright, but that won’t daunt me. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”
He said if the party had agreed that qualifications to be the party’s presidential candidate was to be the general secretary then he would have upheld that but that is not the case.
“Of course, the General Secretary’s position would be a plus to Comrade Ramotar and moreso were he to get the nod of the President. But he will still have to put his case to the comrades just like the rest of us; to ‘face the tape’ so to speak,” Rohee said.
Rohee said he was the first candidate–since November 29, 2010–to have formally written to Ramotar and expressed an interest in being the next presidential candidate.
He said once he is “personally satisfied that I had my chance to fully and comprehensively put my case to the comrades and I still didn’t convince them, I will live with that decision and will support wholeheartedly the chosen one.”
He said there was no reason why he should be a “sourpuss” or feel dejected at the end of the selection process.
