-says focus now to be on General Elections
As expected, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo will continue as General Secretary of the PPP as the party’s new 35-member Central Committee yesterday unanimously re-elected him when they met and also selected the 15- member Executive Committee.
Thanking his supporters, Jagdeo told Stabroek News yesterday that he sees the win as just an “another opportunity to continue to serve our party so it can deliver what we promised to the people of Guyana”. He added that as Party General Secretary, he will ensure that the party’s mandate of ensuring the lives of all Guyanese are uplifted is achieved.
While the Central Committee comprises 40 members, five of those are non-voting members.
The Executive Committee’s number has also increased from 15 to 18 members but three of those are non-voting members or candidate members. The three are ministers Kwame Mc Coy and Anand Persaud, and Ricky Ramraj.
The process for selecting Executive Committee members starts first by electing a General Secretary and then 15 members.
Zulfikar Mustapha was re-elected as Executive Secretary of the party and President Irfaan Ali as the Finance Secretary. The other Secretaries will be elected at the next Central Committee meeting.
Most of the members from the last Executive Committee remained, with three new faces in Nigel Dharamlall, Dr. Vindhya Persaud and Vickram Bharrat.
The table below compares the 2017 Ex-Co members to those elected this year.
For the re-elected General Secretary, this year’s congress, while the largest to date, was different.
“As we put in the document, the scale was different and the substance of the discussion and the amendments we made to the constitution were historic, because we managed to bring the constitution of our party in line with the reality of Guyana, the world and what we believe in and practiced in the party and at the government level,” Jagdeo told this newspaper.
“The scale was something and the diversity of it…,” he added.
He said that smoothness in organization of the congress was also a highlight and that the public could assess as it shows methodical structure. “How the congress was organized …the way it was organized without any glitches is remarkable. To conduct [or] execute an event of this magnitude and not have any glitches or disruptions testifies to the hard work of so many people and mass scale of our competency and discipline,” he said.
Jagdeo added that the party’s next focus is now on working towards next year’s General Elections.
“The Party is ready for the next task, that of the winning the 2025 General and Regional Elections,” he said.
In a press release yesterday, the PPP said that Jagdeo thanked the outgoing Central Committee members for their contributions.
“He stressed that the Congress was a resounding success, highlighted by its scale, diversity, energetic atmosphere, deep discussions, significant issues tackled, and efficient logistics,” the statement said.
According to the release, Jagdeo also “expressed his deep appreciation for the work of Party members, supporters, volunteers, and others for their contribution to a highly successful congress and for their continuous support to the PPP and its programmes.”
The 32nd PPP Congress, which took place from May 3 to 5 at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, was themed: “Strengthen the Party, Defend Guyana, Unite Our People for Progress and Prosperity.”
At the 32nd Congress which ended on Sunday, President Ali secured the highest number of votes of the 35 delegates elected to the Central Committee,
It was revealed that behind Ali and Jagdeo, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha was third with 2,174 votes, while Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat and Parliamentary Chief Whip Gail Teixeira earned the fourth and fifth places, respectively. Also, in the top ten were embattled former minister Nigel Dharamlall, Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal, Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister Kwame Mc Coy, Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, and Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai, in that order.
At the previous congress, Jagdeo had secured the top spot with 100 votes ahead of the second-placed Dr. Frank Anthony, while Teixeira had been third. This year saw some newcomers emerging and others who were on the old list being eliminated. This year Anthony came in 15th with 1308 votes.
The other elected members of the Central Committee were, in descending order of votes: Shyam Nokta, Ricky Ramraj, Jennifer Westford, Neil Kumar, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Anand Persaud, Sarah Browne, Zamal Hussain, Faizal Jaffarally, Bryan Allicock, Minister of Human Services and Social Security Vindhya Persaud, Charles Ramson, Karl Singh, Paul Cheong, Claire Singh, former president Donald Ramotar, Humace Oodit, Brentnol Ashley, Dharamkumar Seeraj, Bheri Ramsarran, Sheik Mohamed Ayube, Vickash Ramkissoon, Sase Gunraj, Clement Rohee and Indranie Chandarpal.
The five other non-voting members elected are Deodat Indar, Mae Toussaint Thomas, Jason Abdulla, Andrew Forsythe and Rion Peters.
