Emphasising the need for a change in the governance system to encompass the main political forces, A New and United Guyana (ANUG) yesterday announced that 73-year-old two-term House Speaker Ralph Ramkarran will be its presidential candidate for the March 2020 elections.
“ANUG believes that Ralph Ramkarran is the best qualified person to be ANUG’s Presidential Candidate and to lead Guyana into the new era of constructing an agreed Governance System that serves all its people,” a statement from the party said following a members’ meeting.
Speaking with the Sunday Stabroek following the announcement, the practising Senior Counsel said he was honoured by his selection.
“I would hope I was selected because I was the best candidate and I offered the most experience and commitment. I can only speculate that members felt I offered what was necessary,” he said, before adding that he was the only candidate whose selection was unopposed.
The long-time politician further explained that while a Prime Ministerial Candidate has not been identified, ANUG is working to prepare its manifesto, which it hopes to launch before the end of 2019.
“We have to prepare our campaign. We are continuing to plan outreaches, meeting organisations and people all over the country. As soon as it is appropriate, we will begin public meetings,” he said, while explaining that the hope is for the party’s message to reach every single Guyanese.
“If not to meet every single Guyanese [we hope] to reach every single Guyanese so on March 2 every Guyanese who goes into the polling booth will know of the existence of ANUG and will know what our main policies are so that they will have a choice at the elections,” Ramkarran stated.
In previous interviews, ANUG members have said that if the party won seats at the elections they would use their presence to ensure that the major political work together as opposed to the present governance model.
According to the statement issued yesterday on Ramkarran’s selection, ANUG is dedicated to bringing to an end the competition for ethno-political dominance in Guyana’s politics by creating a governance system which provides for the equal participation at the executive level of Guyana’s main political forces, an electoral system that provides for elected constituency representatives while maintaining proportionality, and a representative legislature independent of the executive.
“While ANUG’s policies have been substantially determined and will be announced as the election campaign season develops, we are still in the process of refining some policies and devising additional ones to meet the needs of Guyana as our income grows from the exploitation of our petroleum resources,” the statement added while stressing ANUG’s belief that the most fundamental issue facing the Guyanese people, over and above every other issue, is that of the country’s system of government.
The party argued that unless that system changes in such a way that the harmful consequences of ethnic competition between the main political parties is substantially reduced, the political instability, which has consumed Guyana for much of the past year and much of the country’s modern political history, will continue to be dominant features.
“This will occur while solutions to crime and corruption and the rewards of a growing economy over the coming years will continue to elude the Guyanese people,” the party added.
Ramkarran, who is a founding member of ANUG and is its General Secretary, has played a major role, along with the Chairman Timothy Jonas and many others, in recognising the need for a new political party with a unique and singular vision, the party statement added.
The statement said that Ramkarran is a well-known and prominent political personality who was a longstanding member of the People’s Progressive Party and was a member of its Central Committee and Executive Committee since 1974 and 1975 respectively until he left the party in 2012.
Among the main positions in which he served are as a member of the Elections Commission for the 1973, 1992, 1997 and 2001 elections, as a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2001, as Chair of the Constitution Reform Commission in 1999-2000 and as Speaker of the National Assembly from 2001 to 2012. The statement said that he resigned from the PPP in June 2012 after he wrote an article in the PPP-aligned Mirror, calling for steps to be taken to reduce the “Pervasive Corruption” in Guyana.
“Ramkarran’s political activity over the recent decades has required him to collaborate with widely varying political forces to find solutions to the most complex issues dividing political parties. These include the resolution of disputes over the conduct of elections, the complex divergences in constitutional reform or negotiating disagreements and disputes as Speaker. His political career has been marked largely by these engagements with opposing political forces to solve problems. These experiences will be an unerring guide as ANUG engages with other political parties to reform our Governance System and expend our growing resources,” the party posited.
