In anticipation of what will be the largest meeting to date, the PPP/C will bring their 32nd Congress to the capital city, slated for the first week in May, and it will be held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), party sources say.
Sources told Stabroek News that as per the party’s traditional county rotation schedule, the Congress is set to be held in Demerara this time around. The last Congress, in 2017, was held in Anna Regina, Essequibo, and the one before that, in Corentyne, Berbice.
The last time the Congress was held in Georgetown was back in 1994 and it was under the stewardship of now- deceased President Cheddi Jagan. It was also Jagan’s last congress as he passed away shortly before the next one was held in 1997.
Sources say that ACCC was chosen to “comfortably accommodate” the large number of delegates, scheduled to attend this year as “the party’s membership has grown immensely since 2020.”
The security factor was also taken into consideration since the venue offers safety to the many persons who may have to be at the location until very late in the evening.
Meals for the congress will not be prepared on site but will be catered out and that is currently being addressed, this newspaper understands.
Contestants for executive positions “remain mostly unchanged,” sources say.
President Irfaan Ali has said that he will not be contesting for the position of General Secretary (GS) of the party, as he believes his current portfolio of responsibilities is more than enough.
“No! No! Nope! No way!” he had told this newspaper when asked if he would be contesting the post.
“That position requires a lot of work, time and dedication and I already have so much to do already…” he expressed.
The GS’ position is currently held by Bharrat Jagdeo who says that he will know if he will contest based on what the delegates decide.
Jagdeo has said that his position of General Secretary would have to be decided upon by the party’s members as it would “be presumptuous of me to say I will be General Secretary” after the congress.
“I will decide to contest at that time but right now I am GS until those elections are held,” he stressed.
He said that committing to a role as General Secretary was tantamount to him saying that “I own this party” when everyone knows that party leaders are determined through voting. “I am General Secretary until that point in time,” he said.
Party executives this newspaper spoke with opined that Jagdeo is an excellent General Secretary as he is in tune with all of the party’s affairs and makes sound decisions.
“The only person that possibly could handle both roles is Bharrat. Nothing about the party escapes him and he can handle any problem we were to face. So let him stay right there…,” one executive who requested anonymity had told this newspaper, while adding that they would nominate him for the post.
“Who wants that headache? That is a multi-faceted position and I would support anyone I believe can handle that post. Maybe an Executive Secretary to help out the GS but not GS. I don’t think no one will contest for that post. You will tell me better after the congress,” another said.
No date has been set for the PPP/C Congress but it will be held in the first week of May of this year, according to Jagdeo.
He had also previously maintained that that any decision to depart from the party’s founding Marxist-Leninist ideology will be a decision for members of that body.
“That is a question for Congress. The General Secretary of a party doesn’t; cannot alter the constitution of a party on his own. It is a question for Congress,” Jagdeo had last year said when asked if plans were on stream for the removal of Marxism-Leninism from the party’s constitution.
“I have my positions and I am not going to, in the public domain, explore this. I will explore it at the appropriate levels of the party. We have consistently been a working class party. We are not wedded to ‘isms’. We want to make sure all of our people make progress in this country. We want to work for poor people and get them into the middle class of society. So if any ‘ism’ whatsoever is inconsistent with that, it cannot continue to be the prevailing philosophy of our party.”
At the party’s last Congress, held in Essequibo from December 17 to 19, 2016, Jagdeo was elected General Secretary of the party by secret ballot. That was the first time that Jagdeo had held the post of leader of the party.
He had secured the most votes (718) for the party’s Central Committee (CC), for which 35 members were elected; 98 votes ahead of Dr Frank Anthony (620), giving him a mandate to take the reins of the party. Long-serving executive member and current government Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira (583), emerged third.
Current president, Ali (511), who had placed fifteenth in 2013, came at number eight in 2016.
There will be great interest in President Ali’s performance at this upcoming congress.
Party executives told this newspaper that they had no doubt that Ali will receive the highest votes at the Congress. “It is a no-brainer that he will have the most votes. Forget all you hear from this person or that person. All of that is just conjecture. The PPP/C members know what time it is… they know,” one executive posited.
