Although the issue has not been discussed at the party level, aspiring President Donald Ramotar has not ruled out the possibility of current President Bharrat Jagdeo returning as a cabinet member should the PPP/C win this year’s general and regional elections.
“I don’t know if he would want to. I mean being President and then coming to join the cabinet…it might be something that he would probably have to consider. I haven’t thought about it as yet,” Ramotar said yesterday during an interview with this newspaper at Freedom House. He had been asked whether he was open to having Jagdeo be part of his Cabinet should he assume office.
Ramotar, however, was adamant that once Jagdeo is available his knowledge and experience should be utilised. “We haven’t discussed that as yet, but of course President Jagdeo has accumulated an enormous amount of experience. I think his worst critics would have to admit that over the last five years, from 2006 to now, our country has done quite a lot. It has really surged forward. And I… think that once President Jagdeo is available, I think it’s a resource we should use in this country… what role or what position he will play that is still to be discussed and hammered out,” Ramotar said.
The full interview with Ramotar will be carried in a subsequent edition of Stabroek News.
Upon demitting office President Jagdeo is set to benefit from a host of incentives under the Former Presidents (Benefits and Other Facilities) Bill which was passed in April 2009. And Ramotar yesterday admitted that this particular piece of legislation would continue to stir debate. Changing this particular piece of legislation, though, is not among his priorities should he assume office. “I haven’t really gone into it… [but] is it a big issue, is it the most pressing thing to do? Is it more important than getting hydropower? Is it more important than many of these things?”Ramotar asked rhetorically.
“As far as I understand… all that bill did was to legalise what has been the practice in the past,” he stated. “I don’t know, you can have a lot of debates on that, about whether what kind of life a person who has probably served as head of state or opposition leader, how should they live after,” he added.
The PPP General Secretary spoke at length about continuing the progress that he said his party has initiated since 1992. Projects such as the Amaila Hydropower plant, developing the ICT sector, tackling crime and developing the economy are among his priorities. And he said that he still subscribes to the notion of “lean, mean and clean” and he said that throughout its time in office the PPP/C has kept to this mantra. “I think there has been a sustained campaign in this country to discredit the PPP… I am not denying that there is some level of corruption but it is nowhere near to the extent to which it is being portrayed in the media and in other places,” he said.
He also responded to the critics who have pointed to his inexperience in public office. “Running the government is not a secret. I have always been involved in government at the level of policy being a leader of the PPP. At the time we got into government in 1992, I was already a member of the leadership of the party at the highest level,” he said. He added that he has played a part of the government through party policies.
“I want to change the perception a little bit…people have the idea of one superman running the country and so forth,” Ramotar said. “I don’t know any country can be run by one person, it has to be a team approach, it has to be a cabinet,” he added. “Yes, if and when the PPP wins the election, I will be the President but I would not be successful if I work alone. I obviously have to work with a team, I have to pick a good team… cabinet team to work, I have to work closely with my PPP/C grouping that would win the elections and surely…we’ll be able to build on the strong foundations that have already been laid,” he said.
Ramotar also rebuffed suggestions that the party had selected its presidential candidate in an undemocratic manner. The other three persons vying for the post— Ralph Ramkarran, Clement Rohee and Gail Teixeira—all withdrew allowing Ramotar to be unanimously appointed.
“I think fundamentally they withdrew because I think they understood very well [and] saw…I had a lot of support both at the level of the ground and in the leadership of the party”, he opined. “And I think they did it in the interest of the party too… every single person, even those that supported them would have gotten behind the candidate of the PPP,” he added. “So I think what they did was very noble, it was in the interest of the party, and again, it was also in the interest of our country because the history of this country shows that we move forward when the PPP and the PPP/C government is in office,” he continued.
He is confident that all three candidates will support his candidacy. “They’re committed to the PPP and once they’re committed to the PPP they would be committed to the campaign,” he said. Questioned specifically about Ramkarran, the last of the candidates to withdraw, Ramotar said that they have since spoken. “I think Ralph has taken a very good position. It’s a very patriotic position…and sure I would like to see every one of them onboard in the elections campaign, and I’m sure they will come on board in the elections campaign,” he said.
Ramotar also played down the impact of President Jagdeo’s apparent endorsement of his candidacy months before the party had decided on the candidate. Over the past year, in particular, Ramotar had accompanied President Jagdeo on trips overseas as well as across Guyana. “I don’t see those things influencing the leadership,” Ramotar said when asked about this. “The people who had to elect me [were] in the PPP leadership. It wasn’t the masses out there. It was membership of the PPP that affirmed our decision,” he stressed.
According to him, while the President is a very influential member of the party leadership, there were several others with significant clout. “President Bharrat Jagdeo is one member of the leadership of party, of course he’s influential, but so are many others leaders in the party, including myself. I don’t think I’m without influence in the PPP,” he stressed.
