Dear Editor,
I would like to thank Vishnu Bisram for his letter ‘PPP should embrace all opposition forces’ in (GT, Dec 18) support of my call for the PPP/C to regroup and rethink its strategy to win the General Election due in 2020.
The good gentleman feels, as I do, that the PPP should reach out to non-supporters and detractors. He feels that Bharrat Jagdeo wants to reform the PPP but there are hard core elements in the PPP who are reluctant to embrace change.
The problem with this analysis is that those non-supporters and detractors are critical of the PPP because of Bharrat Jagdeo. This is because of what transpired under his presidency. They feel that he was the ‘puppet master’ pulling President Donald Ramotar’s strings. They feel that the political, social and economic situation deteriorated under Bharrat Jagdeo even with (some) evidence to the contrary. They feel that the moral fabric of Guyana was ripped apart by Bharrat Jagdeo.
Bharrat Jagdeo’s recent pronouncement at Canje whereby he promised retrenched sugar worker a monthly stipend if the PPP/C gets elected in 2020 demonstrates that he does not really have any practical solution to the issues affecting the sugar workers, as they need immediate relief not relief in 2 or 3 years’ time. So, how can he have solutions for the whole of Guyana?
Yes, there are hard core elements in the PPP that do not embrace change. But the real change that PPP/C supporters need is for Bharrat Jagdeo (and Donald Ramotar) to be willing leave the PPP so that the party can have the opportunity to regenerate. Should they choose not to do so then it would be deemed that Bharrat Jagdeo will be pulling the strings of any other potential PPP leader, no matter who that person is.
Bharrat Jagdeo has already served two terms as Guyana’s President. A lot of bad things happened under his presidency which I do not blame him directly for. But his non-supporters and detractors do blame him for what transpired.
We need to reach out to a new PPP leader so that this person (man or woman) can come forward. It is said that the PPP under Bharrat Jagdeo is a different political party than that under Cheddi Jagan. Well it is time for Guyanese to take back the PPP from Bharrat Jagdeo or we will just get ‘same-same’ from the PPP and not the change that we so desperately need.
Yours faithfully,
Sean Ori
