Longstanding PPP executive Ralph Ramkarran resigned from the ruling party yesterday in a stunning move just weeks after calling on the government to tackle pervasive corruption and after other party executives expressed “disquiet” at a fiery meeting on Friday.
Ramkarran, whose family has long been associated with the party and is seen as one of its most credible figures, tendered his resignation to PPP General Secretary, President Donald Ramotar, yesterday morning. The party said last evening that it is attempting to engage him on his decision.
Ramkarran’s 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. He said yesterday that following Friday’s meeting, “further participation in the activities of the PPP would be a challenge.” In a brief statement to Stabroek News, Ramkarran said that at a meeting of the PPP’s Executive Committee on Friday, “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’s letter to Ramotar said simply that he was tendering his resignation.
The PPP last evening confirmed the receipt of Ramkarran’s resignation. “Immediately, efforts were made to engage Mr Ramkarran on his concerns and his decision,” a statement from Freedom House said. “These efforts are continuing,” the terse statement added.
This year was Ramkarran’s 50th with the PPP since officially joining the party in 1962. His father, Boysie Ramkarran, was a leading light of the party and a confidant of the late PPP leader, Dr Cheddi Jagan. His departure is seen as a major blow to the PPP/C and an even bigger challenge 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 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.
The flashpoint that triggered his resignation was a column in the PPP-aligned Mirror newspaper on June 16. In the column, Ramkarran said he knew 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. “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. He said that President 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”.
Ramkarran’s 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 large public sector infrastructure programmes and for the supply of goods and services. Up to yesterday, there was no official response by the party or the government to his June 16 column.
However, Member of the PPP’s Central and Executive Committees and Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, in a letter to Stabroek News published yesterday in response to an article about the lack of response from Freedom House on Ramkarran’s corruption statement said that this newspaper “sought to elicit a statement from the party on Mr Ramkarran’s view with the sole purpose of keeping the issue alive; driving a wedge between Mr Ramkarran and the party; projecting the party in a poor light…”
According to Rohee, SN’s article was “replete with speculation and is for all intents and purposes another effort to belabour the much vaunted view carried in the media by Ralph Ramkarran about corruption.
“The PPP has never side-stepped or condoned any evidence-based allegation of corruption, extravagance, nepotism, favouritism or any other form of financial, economic or social impropriety,” he wrote.
In recent times, Ramkarran has been penning forthright columns in the Mirror on issues of national interest.
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. The party 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 and scathing criticism of Freedom House bigwigs by Nadira Jagan-Brancier, the daughter of the late presidents Cheddi Jagan and Janet Jagan.
With Ramkarran’s departure, the PPP/C will have to explain to its constituency how a man with the deepest party family ties after the Jagans could feel such disaffection with the party. He has served the PPP in a number or roles.
According to the online West Indian Encyclopedia, Ramkarran joined the Bel Air/Liliendaal PPP group in 1962 and advanced rapidly and in 1974, he was elected member of the Central Committee of the party. The following year, he was elected to the Executive Committee. He was tasked with various responsibilities from time to time. He was elected to the National Assembly in 1997 and resigned in early 2001 to become a member of the Guyana Elections Commission to assist in managing the elections of that year. He had previously served on the Commission for the 1973, 1992 and 1997 general elections and the 1994 local government elections. While serving as a member of the National Assembly, he was elected as Chair of the bi-partisan Constitution Reform Commission.
Ramkarran qualified as a lawyer in 1972 in the United Kingdom as a member of Gray’s Inn and returned to Guyana the following year when he entered private practice. He joined the law firm of Cameron & Shepherd in 1977 and is now its senior partner. He became a Senior Counsel in 1996, the website said.
Immediately upon his return to Guyana, he became deeply involved in political activities and as the only lawyer in the PPP leadership at that time, was involved in the defence of dozens of youths, mainly from the sugar estate and PPP, who were consistently placed before the courts on public order charges as a form of continuous harassment. The highlight of this activity was his role in the defence of Arnold Rampersaud, who was framed on a murder charge and tried three times: in 1976, 1977 and 1978. He was eventually acquitted after international interest and condemnation, according to the website.
Ramkarran has since appeared for the PPP and the Government in many important constitutional and elections cases.
Ramkarran has spoken and lectured widely on behalf of the PPP and was the editor of its official journal, the Thunder, between 1992 and 2002. In 1994, he was chosen as the Guyana Facilitator to the United Nations Good Officer Process under the Geneva Agreement relating to the Guyana-Venezuela Border controversy.
His father, Boysie Ramkarran served as Minister of Works and Communi-cations in the 1957/61 PPP government and Minister of Works and Hydraulics in the 1961/1964 PPP government and was the General Secretary of GAWU between 1975 and 1985.
Ramkarran served as Speaker of the National Assembly from 2001 to 2011 and was strongly supported by party members for the Speakership following last year’s elections but subsequently lost the vote to Raphael Trotman owing to the PPP’s reduced majority. He 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 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 he had embarked upon before leaving office.
