Charles Ramson (Jr) recently announced that he would seek the PPP’s nomination to be its presidential candidate for the 2020 general elections. That’s not the way it’s done, admonished General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo. At the appropriate time, the party will have a discussion on the matter and the candidate will emerge, he explained.
Ramson’s announcement was made immediately after the CCJ ruled that the two-term presidential limit did not violate Guyana’s constitution, thereby ruling out former president Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo for a third term, for which the PPP would have nominated him. Mr. Ramson clearly wanted his name to be placed among those under consideration before an anointment is made. He joins (in alphabetical order), Irfaan Ali, Frank Anthony and Anil Nandlall, who have been identified by observers as being the persons from whom a ‘choice’ will be made. While no one has yet emerged as a ‘front runner,’ it could well be that one among the three has already been identified. If this is so, then Ramson may possibly have been seen as an intruder, prematurely disrupting what might have been a carefully orchestrated selection process.
Memories are short. In 2011, the candidate did emerge from internal discussions. But Donald Ramotar and I had long before publicly announced our candidacies. Later, Clement Rohee and Gail Teixeira announced theirs. There were interviews, press reports, speculation and subtle campaigning. We were not criticized because everyone knew that this was, apart from my efforts, a fake campaign. The candidate was already anointed and the choice was a foregone conclusion.