Longstanding PPP executive Ralph Ramkarran today resigned from the ruling party in a move that will likely shake Freedom House to its foundations.
Ramkarran, whose family has long been associated with the party and is seen as one of its most credible and capable figures, tendered his resignation to PPP General Secretary, President Donald Ramotar this morning.
His resignation followed fallout from an explosive column in the Mirror newspaper two weeks ago in which he said that corruption was pervasive and the government needed to do something about it.
In a statement today, Ramkarran said:
“My resignation from the People’s Progressive Party was handed in to the office of the General Secretary this morning.
“At a meeting of the Executive Committee on Friday, June 29, 2012, disquiet was expressed about the confidentiality of discussions in my presence having regard to my recent article on corruption. However difficult it might be to link the two issues, the intensity of the discussions were such that further participation in the activities of the PPP would be a challenge.”
Ramkarran, whose father Boysie Ramkarran was a leading light of the party and a confidant of the late PPP Leader Dr Cheddi Jagan, penned a simple letter of resignation today to General Secretary Ramotar.
It said:
Dear General Secretary,
I tender my resignation from the Peoples Progressive Party.
Yours fraternally,
Ralph Ramkarran
Ramkarran’s exit is seen as an even bigger challenge for the PPP following the departure of party stalwart Moses Nagamootoo and his subsequent joining of the Alliance For Change. Ramkarran, a Senior Counsel and former two-term Speaker of the National Assembly, had stuck with the PPP through thick and thin, having to fend off a barrage of accusations from the across the political spectrum and public that he had turned a blind eye to numerous transgressions by PPP/C governments particularly under former President Bharrat Jagdeo.
This year’s was Ramkarran’s 50th with the PPP/C and the flashpoint that triggered his resignation was a column in the PPP-aligned Mirror newspaper on June 16th, 2012.
In the column he said that he knows of enough verifiable instances of corruption to satisfy himself that it was a pervasive problem.
Ramkarran had noted that he had written about the issue of corruption last year and it was a matter that can no longer be ignored by the government.
Noting a large number of corruption reports in the media, many of which he said were exaggerated or frivolous, Ramkarran said nevertheless that there were some that were serious enough to make the government take note.
“Corruption and allegations of corruption are not going to disappear if we do nothing else other than call for proof, claim that we now have regular reports from the Auditor General, or that we declare our assets to the Integrity Commission while the Opposition members do not. The time has come to take action”, he asserted in the column.
Ramkarran had said that victims of corruption do not wish their identities or the circumstances revealed to the public and as a result while many incidents are known, disclosure of evidence is a major problem.
He had charged that unless something is done about corruption it will become a monster if not so already.
He pointed out that since 1992 infrastructure and procurement spending had multiplied rapidly in a country with historically weak systems and a sharply divided and adversarial political system and added that it was not surprising that corruption exists. Noting that the Constitution Reform Commission report of 2000 recommended a Procurement Commission as a constitutional body to deal with corruption, he lamented that it had not yet been activated since the legislative changes were made since 2001.
“It is a shame and a disgrace that ten years on the Procurement Commission has not yet been established. For years it has been held up by one of the most ridiculous excuses that can be imagined – the rejection by the Opposition of the Government’s proposal that they nominate some members and the Government nominates the others”, Ramkarran had said.
He also said that President Donald Ramotar needs to promulgate “new, more advanced and comprehensive legislation and administrative programmes to be implemented in a timely manner which would strengthen transparency and accountability”.
His forthright views on corruption placed the ruling PPP/C in a spot as both Freedom House and the Office of the President have consistently tried to play down suggestions of entrenched graft in the large public sector infrastructure programme and for the supply of goods and services. Up to today, there has been no official response by the party of the government to his June 16 column.
Ramkarran, who had been named as Chairman of the 2001 Constitutional Reform Commission, had been seen as the most credible PPP candidate to succeed Jagdeo after the latter’s two terms in office. He declared himself to be interested in being the party’s candidate but eventually lost to candidate Ramotar who was seen as Jagdeo’s pick. Party sources had said that Jagdeo had rallied support for Ramotar as he believed he would be able to influence him to preserve several high-profile projects that he had embarked upon before leaving office. The tussle had been seen as a veritable showdown between the Jaganites and the Jagdeoites with the latter winning out.
Ramkarran’s departure raises the question of what role he may see for himself in the political framework given the current fluid and volatile situation. It also puts the PPP/C in the dire situation of having to explain to its constituency how a man with the deepest party family ties after the Jagans could feel such disaffection with the party. The PPP is already reeling from the resignation of Nagamootoo, the exodus of thousands of votes at the 2011 general election, a surge of sugar belt support for the AFC, loss of majority control of Parliament for the first time ever by a government and scathing criticism of Freedom House bigwigs by Nadira Jagan-Brancier, the daughter of the late presidents Cheddi Jagan and Janet Jagan.
Below is Ramkarran’s party CV:
1962 Joined Bel Air – Lilendaal PPP Group
1968 Joined PPP UK Branch
Served as Secretary and Chairman
1973 Appointed Member of Elections Commission by PPP
1974 Elected Member of the Central Committee
1975 Elected Member of the Executive Committee
Secretary for Membership
Chairman Auditing and Controls Commission
Editor Thunder (10 years)
Legal Adviser
Numerous committee responsibilities from time to time.
1991 –
2001 Member Elections Commission
1997 Member of Parliament
1999-
2000 Chairman Constitution Reform Commission
2001-
2011 Speaker of the National Assembly
