Dear Editor,
Mark Da Costa in his letter in the Stabroek News of April 10 captioned ‘The PPP is a perversion of Dr. Jagan’s party’ made the ludicrous claim that the PPP has abandoned the vision and “today discrimination is the norm.”
He went on to attack the PPP General Secretary Mr Clement Rohee for lashing out at what he himself is guilty of, that is, using the good name of Dr. Jagan to attack the very organization which he founded and nurtured, the People’s Progressive Party.
It is indeed ironic, if not absurd, for anyone to suggest that the current leadership of the PPP would have any interest or reason in wanting to depart from the Jagan legacy when the administration has been doing everything possible to ensure that the pro-working class character of the party and the PPP/C administration is preserved, consolidated and perpetuated.
Mr DaCosta quotes selectively from Dr Jagan’s writing which he then distorts and puts his own meaning and interpretation to. This is intellectual dishonesty at its best.
His reference to Dr Jagan’s integrity and him “not forgetting his working class roots” is purposefully done to create a distance between Dr Jagan and the present crop of PPP leaders whom he accused of being “elitist and oligarchic.”
Comparisons, it is said, are odious. Every leader has his leadership style, personality traits and values. Janet Jagan, Samuel Hinds, and Bharrat Jagdeo were all former presidents of Guyana, not to mention our current President Donald Ramotar who was literally nurtured by Dr Jagan and from whom he took over the post of General Secretary following Dr Jagan’s passing in 1997. Each of them has brought to bear in the public eyes their own leadership style and persona.
There is no point in trying to put one against the other. If there is one thing they have in common, it is their commitment and dedication towards the realization of a better Guyana.
This is why there has always been policy coherence among the PPP/C administrations which are basically working-class oriented and people driven.
To accuse the PPP leaders of being discriminatory in terms of the distribution of goods and services, as Da Costa is seeking to do, is completely misleading and cannot stand up to scrutiny. The PPP/C administration has always been even handed in the way state resources have been distributed. One only has to examine the budgetary allocation of money to the various administrative regions to get an idea of this even-handedness.
This even-handedness could be seen from the distribution of public sector jobs, the allocation of house lots and the award of government scholarships both overseas and local.
An increasing number of Guyanese from all walks of life are today the proud owners of their own homes thanks to the robust housing programme pursued by the PPP/C administration.
There are some people who find it difficult to rise above petty thinking and see the big picture. Like the proverbial ostrich, they bury their heads in the sand and find fault with everyone who does not share their way of thinking, regardless of how warped and convoluted such thinking may be.
The PPP is very cognizant of the fact that much work remains to be done to realize the Jagan dream and the PPP and the PPP/C administration cannot and will not allow itself to be distracted by the likes of Mr Da Costa who obviously has an opposition agenda which is to besmirch the good name of the PPP and its leaders.
Yours faithfully,
Jagnarine Somwar