Dear Editor,
The Amerindian vote was a key reason for the PPP winning in 2006. The Amerindian vote remains key in what many see as a close election in 2011.
Which makes us wonder why did Ramotar and Jagdeo pick Sam Hinds ahead of a PM candidate such as Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett who has overcome early anxieties to excel as Foreign Minister? Sam Hinds brings nothing to the PPP in terms of votes. Rodrigues-Birkett on the other hand would have cemented the Amerindian vote given her Amerindian heritage and very likely reconnected female voters with the PPP.
By any measure, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett was the better choice for prime minister than Sam Hinds. But Jagdeo and Ramotar are not interested in the advancement of the PPP. They are interested in the advancement of their own power. Sam Hinds was picked because he is easily controlled, quickly steps aside when it’s demanded and lacks political clout. Rodrigues-Birkett on the other hand as prime minister had the potential to become a well-liked candidate who energises the Amerindian and female vote. Asking someone who gains such as powerful profile to step aside for any shenanigans will not work.
That could only work with political deadweights.
The PPP loves to talk about the importance of the Amerindian vote. But when push came to shove, they refused to put their prime ministerial selection where their mouth was. It is gross disrespect to PPP supportersand members for the PPP to pick such a weak PM candidate as Sam Hinds when a better candidate with greater potential for bringing in vitally needed votes in Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett was available. This will turn off not only PPP voters but also Amerindian and female voters from the PPP. Sam Hinds works for Jagdeo and Ramotar and whatever designs they have on power
but he does not work for the PPP party and its supporters/members.
The majority of PPP supporters do not support the selection of Sam Hinds as PM. The truth is that in election 2006 the PPP got more votes from Amerindians than they did from any other non-Indian ethnic group including Africans. How does a party that was rewarded so handsomely by Amerindians refuse to appoint a PM candidate that would not only keep that Amerindian voting segment but enlarge it and in addition bring in more female voters to a PPP that is increasingly seen by the female populace as a chauvinistic government?
It makes no political sense. It makes personal sense to Jagdeo and Ramotar but it does not make sense to a party trying to stop the bleeding ofsupporters fed up with its power greediness, mismanagement and incompetence in a key election. The selection of Sam Hinds and the bypassing of someone like Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett tells us in no uncertain fashion that the PPP of Jagdeo and Ramotar does not care about the PPP party and its supporters and members. They only care about themselves.
Yours faithfully,
M. Maxwell
