Two weeks after former president Bharrat Jagdeo implied that People’s Progressive Party (PPP) founder Dr Cheddi Jagan lived in luxury comparable to his own lifestyle, party General Secretary Clement Rohee yesterday stated that the former president’s remarks do not reflect the official position of the party.
“Those views were not expressed by the General Secretary of the party. So, it is grossly unfair, unprofessional and unbalanced to attribute Mr Jagdeo’s statements to what the party stands for,” Rohee said during the PPP’s weekly press briefing at Freedom House yesterday.
But when asked for clarification about the party’s position, Rohee said he was not distancing himself from Jagdeo or his remarks, while noting that the party has always made room for “robust debate.”
His response follows criticisms of Jagdeo’s assertion by supporters of both Cheddi and Janet Jagan, including their children, as well as former party stalwart Ralph Ramkarran.
Jagdeo has faced scrutiny and criticism over his inability to account for his personal wealth after his two terms in office. This issue was once again raised during the press briefing but Rohee dodged the question.
He said Jagdeo was countering “political opposition and sections of media for attacking him, for using his personally accumulated wealth to build something of his liking…” and was not in fact attacking the ideology or policy of Dr Jagan.
Rohee noted that the onslaught of criticisms directed at Jagdeo’s comparison of his lifestyle to that of the Jagans was politically-motivated and intended to undermine the very institutions that Dr Jagan created.
Rohee said the criticism was being played out so as to say party members and supporters are not entitled to the benefits of a prosperous economy.
He said the party wished to dismiss “the attempt by a number of born again democrats which seeks to create the impression that the PPP has departed from the core values and principles of the founder Cheddi Jagan.”
He stated that every citizen, including former president Jagdeo, was allowed to dispense his/her wealth as he/she deemed fit within the confines of the law.
Rohee also attacked Ramkarran, saying he had lost touch with hierarchy and the mechanisms in place that allow the party to function.
Ramkarran recently wrote on his conversationtree.gy blog that the “crass and unworthy” attempt by Jagdeo to justify the size of his mansion by the sea and his gargantuan post-presidential benefits have taken away one of the PPP’s greatest assets from its public relations armory, namely, the Jagan legacy of a modest lifestyle with integrity and humility. “Jagdeo said that their lifestyle was luxurious. No one in the PPP can now ever dare to say otherwise,” he wrote.
Jagdeo, at a press conference at Freedom House, had said, “I don’t believe ministers should have to live in a logie to prove that they are not corrupt… Cheddi Jagan didn’t have to prove that by living in a logie.”
This was his reply when asked if he believed that his posh home at ‘Pradoville 2’ and the rapid accumulation of wealth by ministers would be within the late president’s ideals.
“I don’t think Cheddi Jagan, living in Bel Air Park at that time, in a nice house, was typical of Guyana. But Cheddi Jagan lived at that time there. Did that weaken his commitment to the cause? No. At that time that was a prime area. It was a big piece of land, nice house and it still is a nice house,” Jagdeo said.
Following the comments by the former president, Ramkarran said that it was a “sin” for Jagdeo to use the name of the late President Jagan to “justify his mansion, his pension and his Cadillac lifestyle.”
“The impression given by Dr Jagdeo that Cheddi Jagan built a mansion, at the time comparable to his own, in an existing exclusive area is completely false and disingenuous,” Ramkarran said.
The Jagans’ daughter Nadira Jagan-Brancier had said too that Jagdeo’s comments were untrue. “I am extremely disappointed that Bharrat Jagdeo would try to compare his lifestyle to that of my parents, former presidents Dr Cheddi Jagan and Mrs Janet Jagan, and defend his opulent lifestyle by pathetically claiming that my parents also lived in a large house in an affluent community. Nothing could be further from the truth,” she had said.
