A NEW PPP IS NEEDED

The PPP should never have found itself in a position where firstly, it lost power and secondly, having lost power is being investigated for misappropriation of public property. Nothing is more shameful that the revelation that either just before or just after the elections, there was an attempt to transfer government vehicles to private individuals. This is a shameful charge for the PPP to have to face, one that has disgraced the party which was once led by a man who would not even steal a crumb. This malaise began with the demise of that man’s wife Janet Jagan.  Mrs. Jagan may have been pushed into a corner after she was described as a private citizen. She had her ways and protected her underlings but things would never have deteriorated as bad as they have if she were alive. She was a political animal. She had turned her eyes away from certain malpractices of party members. But she had a good heart when it came to people and would never have condoned some of the things we have been reading about the PPP government since her demise. She would never have tolerated some of the things we have been learning about the PPP. After she closed her eyes, the PPP fell into a deep pit of corruption. It has not been able to climb out of this pit. The image of the PPP has been badly scarred and the party is not likely to recover from this sullying of its image. It will not recover unless there are sweeping changes to the leadership of the PPP. Those changes are not likely to take place. The cabal that controls the Executive Committee has a stranglehold on power. Instead of acknowledging the validity of views of persons such as Clinton Urling who called for the party to move forward without Bharrat Jagdeo, the cabal has rallied behind the former President. There is not going to be any breaking of ranks. Instead, the PPP is smelling rank. With each day that the new APNU government finds evidence of wrongdoing, the PPP is going to end up smelling stinker than the rotting whale that recently washed up on the Essequibo Coast. The present PPP is not the original PPP. It is counterfeit PPP. It is not a working class party. It is self- serving supermarket, except that those who were serving themselves do not have to pay at the cash out counter. A new PPP has to emerge. Change cannot come within. Those who are keen to ensure the legacy of the Jagans, those who desire change and want to save the PPP from the fate that now awaits it, should form a new party. It should be called the new PPP and someone like Ralph Ramkarran should be asked to lead the party. This is the only way that the PPP is going to redeem itself. It cannot redeem itself under the present leadership because they do not intend to slacken their grip on power. It will take time for this new party to kick off. But it will find support throughout the country because there are thousands of PPP supporters who do not like the APNU+AFC but do not also care very much for the present PPP leadership. They want to see the PPP cleansed of the rotten apples and tomatoes. Some of these supporters of the PPP are even hoping that APNU and the AFC will do the PPP a favour and jail some of those persons who committed crimes. After what is being revealed, a great many of the 200,000 persons that voted for the PPP are not going to want to support the old PPP. But if a new PPP emerges they may shift their allegiances. This shifting will take time but it will happen. As with any new party, you have to build from scratch. This is why the PPP needs a unifying force at the top. It needs someone to provide that stability and to enjoy the confidence of the prospective financers of the new PPP. Ralph Ramkarran may be the best person to lead that process. But if he is not willing to do so, then someone else will have to take up the task. That person may be hard to find. But life is strange and an unknown may well emerge and become the maverick that saves the PPP from political desolation.