When Rondha-Ann Lam decided to take her politics public, she knew it would not have been an easy journey and while she said so far it has been just as she expected, she has had to make some “painful choices” and has lost some ‘friends’ along the way.
She has come a long way from being forced to keep her opposing thoughts to herself, like removing public commentary she made on social media because she had relatives working with the government, to now campaigning publicly.
While it has only been months since The Citizen Initiative (TCI) was formed, Lam, one of two women presidential candidates for the March 2 election, declared that it has been a journey she does not regret and one she would repeat.
She believes her gender plays a big part and hearing her 12-year-old daughter talking about a five-year plan to becoming head prefect of her school and having a little awe-struck girl ask if she can also one day run for the president of the country have helped to solidify Lam’s belief that she did the right thing at the right time.
“It has been an instructive journey. What do I mean by that? I have learnt about threats of men and women and I have learnt to see people in different lights as they presented those changes. But it has been a journey I don’t regret. It has been a journey I would repeat if the opportunity presented itself because for me the pros far outweigh the cons,” Lam told The Weekend in a candid sit-down recently.
Mudslinging and negative comments have poured in, just as she anticipated, but she noted that all her professional life she has had her fair share of critics and admirers. She was quick to add that in politics that has magnified a thousand times.
By no stretch of the imagination does she believe that she will wake up after March 2 as the President of Guyana, but for her remaining silent was no longer an option. She believes that a viable ‘third force’ is needed to bring some semblance of balance to Guyana’s political spectrum, which has been forever dominated by two main political parties.
It was not a decision the mother of four minor children (aged between 15 and 7) made overnight. Balancing being a mother and a presidential candidate means she sometimes has to say no to an engagement, and she has also had to make adjustments to her professional life.
Six months ago, she was Head of the Language Department of the secondary division at Marian Academy, a position she was forced to relinquish owing to the campaign demands; she now occupies the classroom on a part-time basis. She did not say it, but entering the political arena was unchartered waters after spending 21 years at the school. She virtually grew up at Marian, having joined the staff at the age of 18 and therefore was in her comfort zone. But she was bold enough to take the plunge into the relatively unknown.
“I have had to make painful choices, such as stepping away from the classroom, teaching career…,” she said, adding that Guyana’s politics has not matured to the point where one can step out, be political and not expect repercussions. So, apart from the demands of the campaign trail, it was also to protect her employers that she took the decision to relieve herself of the permanent position at the school.
The “painful choices” were made after consultation with many including her children and elders she respected, who outlined in detail all of the negatives things she would face. She therefore stepped into the arena with her eyes wide open, knowing the consequences and what to expect.
‘Deciding factors’
Asked why at this juncture in her life she decided to make the plunge into politics, Lam, who is a small business owner, said that for years she has declared that she did not want to leave Guyana even as her siblings, she is one of seven, were taking the road out.
“I kept holding out that I did not want to migrate, somebody would have to stay to train our children, somebody would have to stay to contribute to Guyana,” she said.
But two years ago, she woke up with the haunting feeling that nothing was changing over a period of time and one day she looked at her youngest and thought it was a good idea to “ship them all out.
“It was at that point I realised that I had to do something. I just didn’t know what it was. So, when this opportunity presented itself and the conversation started about how we as young people can assist – and by no stretch of the imagination I am considered a youth, but in terms of Guyanese politics I am definitely a youth,” she said.
They started with the idea of voter education and then “it just kind or morphed into its own, took on a life of its own” and the idea of a viable of a third option was born, even as they looked at transparency and accountability and where parties were getting their funding from. They also examined whether women are stepping up, or just being kept to what is required when presenting a list. Young people were also crying out that there was no room for them.
All of that and more helped her to make that deciding move and since then one of the biggest criticisms she has faced is the fact that she has no political experience. But Lam questioned where a new politician would get experience from than in the field.
“I know there are political science degrees and things like that, but ultimately we have had those kinds of politicians, the ones who were degreed and we have a status quo that doesn’t work for us…,” she said, adding that people’s voices are controlled by party lines.
While she wanted change, Lam said she did not want to jump on the status quo ticket but rather she wanted something fresh, something built from the grassroots and even if they do not make an impact in 2020, they have a five-year plan.
She believes also that she has “come of age” where she is not only looking at herself but at a collective ‘we’ “and how you can contribute to the building of that collective we.”
As to whether she is going to get frustrated when she looks at the political landscape and if change is slow to come, Lam answered that she believes that the late presidents Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham and Dr Cheddi Jagan would have faced these same questions when they entered politics as young men to fight the colonial system.
“I am not comparing myself, by any stretch of the imagination, to their struggles, but anything that is coming out brand new people will reject,” she said, adding that her paternal grandmother, who raised her, always told her that it takes one and that one influences one.
For Lam and TCI, the journey they have embarked on is not one for just them, but one to change attitudes and because of this they do not expect power immediately.
“So, if my aim was power… at any cost then the status quo was the easiest route to go but that is not the journey,” she noted.
She said TCI was built from the grassroots and was different from the Alliance for Change (AFC), whose leaders Raphael Trotman and Khemraj Ramjattan both had constituencies when they formed the party along with the late Sheila Holder.
“They were known before. So, AFC was not a grassroots movement, it did not pick itself up from nothing into something. They already had an establishment they capitalized on. So, when persons voted for the AFC… they didn’t know the AFC, but they knew those two gentlemen and Sheila Holder…,” she added.
Citizens, she said, liked the idea that those individuals were rejecting the status quo and as such, for her, the idea of a third force has not really been factored in at a grassroots level. She wants the third force to be made up of ordinary men and women and not just the middle-class like lawyers and doctors. For TCI, it is important that the representatives for different areas are people who have actually lived there and are known by the residents.
Constitutional reform
Speaking about what TCI would like achieve, Lam said high on their list is constitutional reform, which she said is critical to shift the power from that “elite system that we have.
“Then, of course, I would love to send some more women into Parliament. The current system that we have only mandates a list of representatives, it does not state that this same number of women must go into Parliament. So, whilst the women make the list, it doesn’t necessary mean they are going into Parliament,” she said.
She is cognizant of some of the challenges women face when it comes to balancing work and family life, as there have been decisions she has had to make at times to ensure that her children receive their due. But she admitted that she has not been “tested” as yet, because as it is, they are still a small party. For her, prepping her children for exams and her commitment to her children are non-negotiable.
Lam stressed that all Guyanese are involved in politics whether they vote or not and they need to understand that it should not just be left up to the opposition to keep the government in check but all should and can play a part.
One of the problems Guyana faces as well is the fact that after an election, about half of the electorate is upset regardless of the results and for Lam this means that power sharing and inclusive governance should be considered.
“It can be done where there is that will. But I don’t like the idea where every five years half of the electorate is upset, it does not augur well for our future. It might be utopian and idealistic of me, but I like the idea of conquering stubborn things. I guess that is the schoolteacher in me,” Lam added.
She also called out the arrogance of some politicians and criticized the PPP/C for promising to reopen sugar estates when they know it is not feasible, and the APNU/AFC for closing the estates, which was unavoidable, without having a viable option for the sugar workers.
Lam said it all comes down to the party system and for her and TCI removing the presidency from the party line is gravely needed. And in order to do that, “I would love to have separate elections for a president.
“It is absurd that if I want to go to Parliament and I don’t want to do it via the [major parties] I have to form a party, choose a presidential candidate and then run independently. Whereas, you could have a separate election for the presidency. Ideally, what we would like to introduce is like the second House that lower House that takes the representatives from the ground, those grassroots people…”
Lam also pointed out that technically she is not running for president, but rather for a seat in Parliament but because the “system is so absurd it forced me to do so [run for President].
“We know that one of the two will win, but the thing is which one and by how much. That how much is what we would like to control,” Lam said.
So, while on paper she is running for President, Lam and her party are not unrealistic in their expectations. TCI is contesting six regions, which is the minimum, and Lam explained that time did not permit them to contest the interior regions. According to her, GECOM’s moving up of nomination day robbed TCI of the opportunity to contest in the seventh region, which they had been working on.
As she marches to March 2, Lam said the fact that she could no longer “sleep with her conscience” was what made her realize that she had “come of age and I had to do something”. This would be clearest in her mind when she faces obstacles and those who may want to ask that age-old question “Why?”
