Donald Ramotar: The Road not Taken
FORMER President Donald Ramotar has been in the news quite a lot recently. The former president has spoken on a range of issues– from his controversial pardoning of a convicted child-killer to his decision to prorogue Parliament, to the perception that his presidency was controlled by his predecessor. It is not customary for former heads-of-state to be as vocal so soon after leaving office. Even the very confrontational Bharrat Jagdeo took a relatively long time before he actually commented on his presidency or on topical issues.Perhaps the circumstances under which President Ramotar left office and his subsequently rough treatment by his party have influenced his decision to break with tradition. He was the first PPP leader to lead the party to electoral defeats—not once, but twice. That he is not his party’s de-facto leader or one of its parliamentary representatives speaks volumes about the extent to which he has been demoted. One assumes that he is still part of the executive, but clearly he does not command much support in that body. In other words, Mr Ramotar has been abandoned by his party.
Many would contend that he dug the proverbial hole for himself. When he was selected as the PPP’s presidential candidate, many felt that others were more deserving of that role. Mr Ramotar, though a longstanding party diehard, was never considered a frontline leader in the same league as Ralph Ramkarran and Moses Nagamootoo, both of whom had vied for the top spot. Ramotar was the party’s General Secretary, but when he assumed that office it was stripped of the authority it had when Dr. Jagan held it. Further, he lacked the kind of charismatic appeal that is usually associated with the maximum leader.
In the final analysis he was named as presidential candidate by default; the Jagdeo loyalists who had captured the party wanted to deny that top spot to Nagamootoo and Ramkarran. It is, therefore, not farfetched to assume that his ill-fated presidency was controlled by Mr Jagdeo. Whether Mr Jagdeo himself wielded such power behind the scene is debatable, but what cannot be denied is that Mr Ramotar was not his own man.
More than any other president, he had the perfect opportunity to move the country in an alternative direction. As a president leading a minority government, the door was wide open for him to strike a power-sharing deal with the opposition APNU and AFC that would have seen him remain as president while moving the country in the direction of national reconciliation. He stoutly refused that option. It was a strange decision which some analysts have argued would reduce Mr Ramotar’s presidency to mediocrity. Mr Jagdeo’s current hardline against power sharing gives credence to the contention that he was the king behind the throne.
Mr Ramotar has apologised for the controversial pardoning of the convicted child killer. In the context of our political culture, such an apology has to be commended. It takes courage for a political leader to admit error. But Mr Ramotar once again lost an opportunity to be taken seriously. He followed up his apology by denying that there was widespread official corruption in his and previous PPP governments. He makes this contention in the face of startling revelations of corrupt practices. He has also led the odious chorus which seeks to declare some leaders as unfit to be in the same place with others.
There is no doubt that Mr Ramotar is a very upstanding individual. Even his detractors have not painted him as a nasty person. Ramotar would go down as a very flawed political leader who lacked the courage to make crucial decisions in the interest of the country and chose party over country. In the end he was consumed by the very party and will be remembered for the road not taken.