The PPP would do well to heed the call by former stalwart Ralph Ramkarran to have its membership elect the leaders of the party, but the current leadership does not seem amenable to this, says former Central Committee member and now AFC leader, Khemraj Ramjattan.
The party has faced calls before to further democratise its processes. Ramjattan, in 2002 when he was a high-ranking member, had tabled a resolution at the Port Mourant Congress proposing that the membership elect top party leaders as opposed to the current method, where the 35 members of the Central Committee agree on the leadership. His call was rejected. Ramjattan was later expelled from the party and formed the AFC.
Ramkarran, a former longstanding PPP executive, who parted ways with the party in June following the fallout from an explosive column he penned in which he said that corruption was pervasive and the government needed to do something about it, joined the call in an article in the Sunday Stabroek earlier this month. “All important decisions, including potentially, the choice of party leader (by whatever name) and the presidential candidate, must be made by a vote of members. Office holders must be named in the constitution and must be elected at the congress. The Central Committee and the Executive Committee must be elected at congress,” Ramkarran wrote in the article headlined ‘The PPP and the Challenges ahead’.
The former Speaker of the National Assembly said that urgent reforms are needed if the PPP is to retain enough support to ensure a majority at the polls. “New rules, in relation to the whole gamut of issues, will modernise the party for the new challenges which it faces and at the same time institutionalise practices which have already been adopted,” he wrote.
Yesterday, Ramjattan recalled that in 2002 he had indicated the need for more internal democracy within the PPP and had also proposed that in each county there be races for leadership positions and this competition would see persons dedicated to the country elected as leaders. The AFC leader recalled that he was “chastised” by other party members for bringing the resolution and it was voted against. He noted that Ramkarran had chaired the session that dealt with his resolution. “I am very happy to see him making that demand today,” Ramjattan said.
The PPP postponed its constitutionally due congress since August 2011 and according to reports, may hold it early next year. While it has responded to other points raised by Ramkarran, it has not responded to his call for a new method of selecting its leaders. “Ramkarran views on the party’s rule would not be discussed here. That will be done internally. We have mechanisms to do so. They have not changed; at least not yet,” the party had said.
Currently, party members meet at Congress and vote to elect the 35-member Central Committee. The Central Committee then elects the 12-member Executive Commit-tee with the top positions filled in this way.
Ramjattan said that despite Ramkarran’s call he does not believe that the PPP is open to changing the way it selects its leaders. “Absolutely not,” he declared, adding that those at the top fear that should the party head in this direction, they “might be shifted out of their positions completely”.
“That is the reason why they will not want any internal democracy within the party,” he asserted. “The PPP has a far way to go to democratize.”
He said that while he had learnt that the PPP congress is scheduled for early next year, the party is in “disarray” and many of its members have expressed disenchantment with the leadership and this could impact on the holding of the congress.
Ramjattan further said that democracy should not only be sought at the national level but at all levels including political parties, trade unions, among other groups. He noted that with regard to the AFC, it is the members who elect the leaders. “It must always go back to the membership of your organisation who select the leadership,” he said.
