Donald Ramotar's Presidential Appreciation Ceremony Speech
by Ruel Johnson on Friday, 09 September 2011 at 11:50
The Future of Progress (Speech)
September 16th, 2011
By Donald Ramotar
My fellow Guyanese. Thank you all for coming out here tonight. Thank you. When a man is asked to make a speech, the first thing he has to decide is what to say: I am the first to admit that I am no great orator. I will start by saying this:
Let a lesser progress continue...
"I am a Ford, not a Lincoln..."
Those words, ladies and gentlemen, those were wise words spoken by a wise man, a wise and humble man. That wise and humble man was none other than US President, Gerald Ford.
Gerald Ford is the sort of leader I can personally identify with, a man who knew his place in history, in politics, and had absolutely no illusions about what his tenure meant - a necessary mediocrity. That is why today, I stand before you to say proudly - I am a Ramotar, not a Jagdeo.
You know this, I know this, and my party knew this when they fast-tracked the brilliant young man - like me, an economist, only far better - past all of us senior members, straight into the Presidency.I think it goes simply to show that the Party which I have personally steered over the past almost fifteen years will not foist mediocrity on the people of Guyana, at least not until the best we have to offer has governed to a constitutionally-delimited maximum of terms, one which we should note that he personally signed into effect with a grace uncommon in regional, and I would dare say even stellar politics.
There are people who claim that I don't have the brains to govern: that my degree is a sham. They say that I have no experience to run the country, that my main encounter with administration is limited to a desk and office in Freedom House. In response to my detractors, let me emphatically say that, while that may be true, I had a lot of experience with people smarter than I am.
They say I am ordinary. And what, may I ask rhetorically, is wrong with ordinary? It's the quality of the ordinary, the straight, the square, that accounts for the great stability and success of our nation. It's a quality to be proud of. But it's a quality that many people seem to have neglected, with their military training and publishing, or their fancy lawyering.
Moreover, I am an economist and I understand from an economical standpoint what it takes to move Guyana forward. When the Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud said that Guyana didn't have the capacity to manage Skeldon Sugar Estate, I stated firmly and without equivocation, “I am not sure if his assessment is totally correct about our capacity to manage Skeldon. I think it is settling down. I have no doubts that with all the problem, Skeldon will eventually prove its worth."
I said this even though it is Minister Persaud who is running my PR campaign for this election: that is the sort of strength of conviction, of assurance that I will bring to the Presidency of this country.
Bharat Jagdeo is a great man. An incomparable man, the founder of modern Guyana. Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo’s contributions to Guyana’s development and that of the region are unmatched. I go into these elections knowing not just that I have a great legacy to live up, but that I cannot live up to it. That said, I think that I have the intellect, natural talent and charisma to communicate effectively here & abroad and bring people together - maybe.
I know they say that the President is not doing enough to comment on the Wikileaks cables which concern him and his cabinet. I cannot imagine any other country in the world where the opposition would seek, and the chief executive would allow, the dissemination of his most private and personal conversations with his staff, which, to be honest, do not exactly confer sainthood on anyone concerned.
Let me warn you now, about the threat our President faces - with the Wikileaks, and the libel lawsuit against Freddie Kissoon, and young men showing him their middle fingers, even in his supposed final days in office. A coalition of groups is waging a massive propaganda campaign against the president of Guyana - an all-out attack. Their aim is total victory for themselves and total defeat for him.
History and experience tell us that moral progress comes not in comfortable and complacent times, but out of trial and confusion. And that is why I though may seem, in the midst of these trials, confused right now - confused about the management of Guysuco, confused about how to handle Wikileaks, confused about the rationale for throwing a big farewell party in the middle of what is supposed to be my campaign, confused about whether I used "rationale" in the correct context just now - I am confident that we will progress from all this.
Again, my fellow Guyanese - I may not be as humanitarian, as visionary, or as astute as our beloved President. I may not have such groundbreaking initiatives such as the One Laptop Per Family, or the Low Carbon Development Strategy, or anything else with L in the abbreviation - but I don't have to. Even if I were one hundredth of the great man that Bharat Jagdeo is, I would be better than any president in Guyana's history except for Cheddi Jagan, who was roughly 25 percent as great as Dr. Jagdeo: I am 8 percent as great, although I admit I had to live to this advanced age to get there. I know these numbers by the way because Vishnu Bisram told me so.
That I also have the endorsement of the President is even better affirmation. The pat on the back, the arm around the shoulder, the praise for what was done right and the sympathetic nod for what wasn't are crucial to my self esteem, and this is the sort of the treatment I receive constantly.
I know other men would not want to campaign in the shadow of such a great leader as the President, tagging along like a puppy, or even that bit of toilet paper that stubbornly sticks on to a puppy's foot if it gets into the toilet. But I have the courage to accept and endorse, without any sense of shame, the constant inflation of Dr. Jagdeo's image, his awesomeness, even to the detriment of my own during the campaign. The greatness of Bharat Jagdeo is the central truth of his administration and that truth is the glue that holds government together.
Even though this is late in an election year, there is no way we can go forward except together and no way anybody can win except by serving the people's urgent needs - the need to acknowledge, through massive spectacle, the greatness of Bharat Jagdeo and my bold, but ultimately impossible, attempt to shoulder his legacy. I have not sought this enormous responsibility, but I will not shirk it.
We cannot stand still or slip backwards. We must go forward now together - except of course for those senior Afro-Guyanese foreign service employees, or Afro-Guyanese contractors bidding for large scale state projects. Ladies and gentlemen, Guyana has a bright future ahead of it, a very bright future - things are more like today than they have ever been before.
That is why I urge you, come that date that His Excellency still has to graciously set at his personal discretion for the hosting of elections, please vote for me. Let progress continue, granted under vastly poorer leadership than we have at present. I may not be the best man for the job, but I am the man for the job... I think.
Let a lesser progress continue...
Source
http://guyanafriends.com/eve/f...604972/m/95220554051
by Ruel Johnson on Friday, 09 September 2011 at 11:50
The Future of Progress (Speech)
September 16th, 2011
By Donald Ramotar
My fellow Guyanese. Thank you all for coming out here tonight. Thank you. When a man is asked to make a speech, the first thing he has to decide is what to say: I am the first to admit that I am no great orator. I will start by saying this:
Let a lesser progress continue...
"I am a Ford, not a Lincoln..."
Those words, ladies and gentlemen, those were wise words spoken by a wise man, a wise and humble man. That wise and humble man was none other than US President, Gerald Ford.
Gerald Ford is the sort of leader I can personally identify with, a man who knew his place in history, in politics, and had absolutely no illusions about what his tenure meant - a necessary mediocrity. That is why today, I stand before you to say proudly - I am a Ramotar, not a Jagdeo.
You know this, I know this, and my party knew this when they fast-tracked the brilliant young man - like me, an economist, only far better - past all of us senior members, straight into the Presidency.I think it goes simply to show that the Party which I have personally steered over the past almost fifteen years will not foist mediocrity on the people of Guyana, at least not until the best we have to offer has governed to a constitutionally-delimited maximum of terms, one which we should note that he personally signed into effect with a grace uncommon in regional, and I would dare say even stellar politics.
There are people who claim that I don't have the brains to govern: that my degree is a sham. They say that I have no experience to run the country, that my main encounter with administration is limited to a desk and office in Freedom House. In response to my detractors, let me emphatically say that, while that may be true, I had a lot of experience with people smarter than I am.
They say I am ordinary. And what, may I ask rhetorically, is wrong with ordinary? It's the quality of the ordinary, the straight, the square, that accounts for the great stability and success of our nation. It's a quality to be proud of. But it's a quality that many people seem to have neglected, with their military training and publishing, or their fancy lawyering.
Moreover, I am an economist and I understand from an economical standpoint what it takes to move Guyana forward. When the Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud said that Guyana didn't have the capacity to manage Skeldon Sugar Estate, I stated firmly and without equivocation, “I am not sure if his assessment is totally correct about our capacity to manage Skeldon. I think it is settling down. I have no doubts that with all the problem, Skeldon will eventually prove its worth."
I said this even though it is Minister Persaud who is running my PR campaign for this election: that is the sort of strength of conviction, of assurance that I will bring to the Presidency of this country.
Bharat Jagdeo is a great man. An incomparable man, the founder of modern Guyana. Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo’s contributions to Guyana’s development and that of the region are unmatched. I go into these elections knowing not just that I have a great legacy to live up, but that I cannot live up to it. That said, I think that I have the intellect, natural talent and charisma to communicate effectively here & abroad and bring people together - maybe.
I know they say that the President is not doing enough to comment on the Wikileaks cables which concern him and his cabinet. I cannot imagine any other country in the world where the opposition would seek, and the chief executive would allow, the dissemination of his most private and personal conversations with his staff, which, to be honest, do not exactly confer sainthood on anyone concerned.
Let me warn you now, about the threat our President faces - with the Wikileaks, and the libel lawsuit against Freddie Kissoon, and young men showing him their middle fingers, even in his supposed final days in office. A coalition of groups is waging a massive propaganda campaign against the president of Guyana - an all-out attack. Their aim is total victory for themselves and total defeat for him.
History and experience tell us that moral progress comes not in comfortable and complacent times, but out of trial and confusion. And that is why I though may seem, in the midst of these trials, confused right now - confused about the management of Guysuco, confused about how to handle Wikileaks, confused about the rationale for throwing a big farewell party in the middle of what is supposed to be my campaign, confused about whether I used "rationale" in the correct context just now - I am confident that we will progress from all this.
Again, my fellow Guyanese - I may not be as humanitarian, as visionary, or as astute as our beloved President. I may not have such groundbreaking initiatives such as the One Laptop Per Family, or the Low Carbon Development Strategy, or anything else with L in the abbreviation - but I don't have to. Even if I were one hundredth of the great man that Bharat Jagdeo is, I would be better than any president in Guyana's history except for Cheddi Jagan, who was roughly 25 percent as great as Dr. Jagdeo: I am 8 percent as great, although I admit I had to live to this advanced age to get there. I know these numbers by the way because Vishnu Bisram told me so.
That I also have the endorsement of the President is even better affirmation. The pat on the back, the arm around the shoulder, the praise for what was done right and the sympathetic nod for what wasn't are crucial to my self esteem, and this is the sort of the treatment I receive constantly.
I know other men would not want to campaign in the shadow of such a great leader as the President, tagging along like a puppy, or even that bit of toilet paper that stubbornly sticks on to a puppy's foot if it gets into the toilet. But I have the courage to accept and endorse, without any sense of shame, the constant inflation of Dr. Jagdeo's image, his awesomeness, even to the detriment of my own during the campaign. The greatness of Bharat Jagdeo is the central truth of his administration and that truth is the glue that holds government together.
Even though this is late in an election year, there is no way we can go forward except together and no way anybody can win except by serving the people's urgent needs - the need to acknowledge, through massive spectacle, the greatness of Bharat Jagdeo and my bold, but ultimately impossible, attempt to shoulder his legacy. I have not sought this enormous responsibility, but I will not shirk it.
We cannot stand still or slip backwards. We must go forward now together - except of course for those senior Afro-Guyanese foreign service employees, or Afro-Guyanese contractors bidding for large scale state projects. Ladies and gentlemen, Guyana has a bright future ahead of it, a very bright future - things are more like today than they have ever been before.
That is why I urge you, come that date that His Excellency still has to graciously set at his personal discretion for the hosting of elections, please vote for me. Let progress continue, granted under vastly poorer leadership than we have at present. I may not be the best man for the job, but I am the man for the job... I think.
Let a lesser progress continue...
Source
http://guyanafriends.com/eve/f...604972/m/95220554051
