If one were to try to predict the electoral outcome on May 11, simply by surveying the social media and online blogs, one might be forgiven for believing that Guyanese are ready for change and that the APNU+AFC coalition is heading for victory. The online battle is, however, but one aspect of the election and, whilst important, not necessarily a true and reliable indicator of how the majority of Guyanese will vote. In other words, reports or predictions of the demise of the PPP/C government are premature, if not greatly exaggerated.
Recent developments would, nevertheless, suggest that the PPP hierarchy perceives the threat to its almost 23-year old hegemony as very real indeed. Dr Bheri Ramsaran’s repulsive abuse of activist Sherlina Nageer, for example, bore all the hallmarks of the snarls of a cornered cur. At least, Freedom House seemed to have recognised very early that their comrade had overstepped the bounds of basic decency, even if it took President Donald Ramotar too long to act in firing him. But then, the PPP’s default position, ever since 1992, when faced with criticism, has been either to bury its collective head in the sand or to circle the wagons, if you will forgive the confusion of metaphors.
Bherigate though, whilst attributable, in the opinion of some, to a certain pathology within the PPP, might be more indicative of a growing sense of desperation in the PPP camp. And it is a desperation embodied in the cynical strategy to unleash ex-President Bharrat Jagdeo on the electorate to conjure ghosts from the past and stir up old and new fears, animosities and hatreds. In seeking to mobilise its traditional base, the PPP is quite literally adopting a base strategy; it is what former senior PPP member Ralph Ramkarran calls the “pit bull politics of aggression and personal vilification”, aimed at retrieving a majority in parliament for the PPP/C.
Now, with just 10 days to go until E-Day, there is an air of expectancy and tension, in equal measure, that is perhaps unprecedented in the experience of most Guyanese voters, particularly the younger ones. And there is hope amongst many that change is in the air. But the PPP/C is far from down and out; it is still alive and very much kicking.
This is not Dr Cheddi Jagan’s PPP, however, and the current PPP/C administration is a far cry from his presidency which lasted from October 1992 to March 1997. It is a matter of record moreover, that death tragically foreshortened Dr Jagan’s tenure and paved the way for the clumsy elevation of his widow, Janet, and the subsequent foisting upon the nation of Mr Jagdeo.
One might disagree with some of Dr Jagan’s ideological positions but very few people would dispute that he was a man of principle, simplicity and decency. He was committed to improving the lot of the working class and pursued development with a human face as the overriding objective of his presidency. He promised good governance and “lean and clean government”. One of his main mistakes, perhaps, was to put too much faith in party loyalists rather than trying to create a true meritocracy, thereby unwittingly paving the way for Messrs Jagdeo and Ramotar and their cabal of crony capitalists and carpetbaggers. We might say – with considerable hindsight, admittedly – that the original ideals of the PPP/C and their founder-leader died with him.
Khemraj Ramjattan spoke out against the dangerous direction the PPP was taking under Mr Jagdeo but was forced out. The same fate befell Moses Nagamootoo and Mr Ramkarran, two stalwarts of the party who had literally grown up in the party under Dr Jagan. And if their criticisms of the betrayal of Dr Jagan’s legacy are not enough, now Dr Cheddi Jagan Jnr, better known as Joey, has added his voice to the clamour for change.
In a recent TV interview with Diaspora personality Mr Rudy Jadoopat in New York, the younger Dr Jagan voiced his disillusion with what the PPP has become, proclaimed the Civic “dead”, championed coalition politics and urged young people and women in particular to vote according to their conscience and to “vote for change”. It is a potentially powerful message from Dr Joey Jagan, for so long the keeper of his father’s flame and, if anything, it confirms the widespread belief that the PPP/C under Messrs Jagdeo and Ramotar has drifted far from its moorings and is a vulgar parody of Dr Jagan’s PPP/C.
