Gomattie Singh receiving death threats for supporting Ramotar - Hamilton spurns race politics
Written by Johann Earle
Wednesday, 02 November 2011 03:25
Source - Guyana Chronicle
From left are PPP/C Media Coordinator Romel Roopnarine, Gomattie Singh and Joseph Hamilton at yesterday’s PPP/C media conference
NEW entrants to the PPP/C fold, Gomattie Singh and Joseph Hamilton, spoke out yesterday about criticisms, and in one case death threats, following their public declarations of support for Donald Ramotar’s candidacy.
Speaking at a press conference at Freedom House yesterday, both members gave an account of issues in their former parties that caused them to support Donald Ramotar’s presidential bid. Elections are slated for the 28th of this month.
Singh, burned about her face and neck during an acid attack in 2008, said she received death threats in the form of telephone calls to her home.
The attorney-at-law who was a founding member of the Alliance For Change (AFC) has said that her presence on the PPP/C platform has triggered some unrest in the minds of some people in the country. “Almost instantly, my phones, both at home and at office, started to [receive calls] of threats, accusing me of crossing the floor, threatening me that this time they were going to kill me,” she said. She said the numbers that called her house with the threats were all unknown, and the calls to the office could not have been monitored since there was no caller ID installed on the phone.
She said she has not reported the calls to the police. “I am still talking with GT&T to trace those calls,” she said, when asked why she has not yet informed the police about the death threats.
“Why me? Is it something that is so thoroughly wrong that I should not be in politics, or that I should not be on the political platform to make a contribution (to) my society or choose who I want to be the leader of this country? I think the political situation in Guyana is becoming one [in which] if you stand up or speak out for what is right in this country, you are going to be a target,” she said.
“The first one had taken me by surprise and shock; but, this time around, I am all prepared to face the circumstances that are going to come to me,” she said. “I want you, the media, to know that it is happening, so that when something serious happens, you wouldn’t be taken by surprise, like I was taken by surprise on May 28, 2008,” she said, referring to the day she was doused with acid by an assailant.
“In September 2006, I resigned from that party,” she said. “I have no obligations to that party, and therefore I think – looking at the progress that has taken place in Guyana – it is right that I give my support to the ruling party in the upcoming elections, that they go through and continue with the progress in Guyana,” she said.
When asked about any promises made to her as inducement for joining the ranks of the Civic, Singh said the PPP/C was not obligated to her. “When I proposed to give my support to Comrade Donald, it was last year December. I had just come out of a surgery for my eye, and I indicated to Donald by way of a Christmas card [that I hope he is selected as the person to lead our country in the next elections, come 2011],” she said. “I didn’t ask for any position, I don’t want any position. I am committed to the development of this country, whatever form it can be. As a lawyer, I am quite happy with the legal aid I have been giving persons, especially women in domestic violence situations,” Singh said.
She said that during 2010, when the AFC had its “wrangling” as to who was going to be the presidential candidate, Khemraj Ramjattan called her at home to ask her about what she knew about the rotation of the presidential candidate position, as a founding member who was charting the constitution of the party.
“He was not concerned with how many people were supporting Raphael Trotman, or how many people chose Trotman above him. The fact that there was a rotation, he had to be the presidential candidate,” she said. “It was a self-serving interest, so I said to Ramjattan (that) I was not going to take that position,” Singh said.
On what she sees different in the PPP from 2006 to now, she said that a lot has been done in the country from 2006 to now. “We have moved a far way. We have had so much infrastructure development taking place,” she said. “I have great confidence in the leadership of Donald Ramotar for the presidency of this country,” she said.
For his part, Hamilton said he was not bitter with the PNCR. He pointed to the fact that, over the four years from 2007 to present, he has not written anything or spoken ill of the party he once called home. He said that, in 2007, he and others sought to change the way the PNCR governed itself, and supported Vincent Alexander in his bid to oust Robert Corbin as leader of that party.
Hamilton said some of the people in the most senior positions in the PNCR were asking him why he as a “black man” was supporting a “coolie man” over a “black man.” He said when these persons come and talk to him they do not put programme against programme. “They put Granger, a black man like me, against Ramotar, an Indian. That is their discussion, and I would have no part of any party whose only discussion is one of race in politics,” he said.
He said that since the PNCR Congress of July 23, 2007, he has had no relationship with that party. He severed ties with the party because of what he described as the vulgarity and profanity that he saw displayed and orchestrated by the leadership of the party at the 2007 Congress. “So the discussion about Hamilton leaving the PNC to join the PPP is a non-discussion. I have had no relationship over the last four years with the PNCR,” he said.
“Even before the announcement at Albion, I have been giving material support to the PPP over the year,” he said. He disclosed that he had two sons in the Progressive Youth Organisation and that he has played a part in influencing their choice of political party to support. “Structurally, it is only the PPP/C as a political entity that has the necessary structure to govern,” he said.
Written by Johann Earle
Wednesday, 02 November 2011 03:25
Source - Guyana Chronicle
From left are PPP/C Media Coordinator Romel Roopnarine, Gomattie Singh and Joseph Hamilton at yesterday’s PPP/C media conferenceNEW entrants to the PPP/C fold, Gomattie Singh and Joseph Hamilton, spoke out yesterday about criticisms, and in one case death threats, following their public declarations of support for Donald Ramotar’s candidacy.
Speaking at a press conference at Freedom House yesterday, both members gave an account of issues in their former parties that caused them to support Donald Ramotar’s presidential bid. Elections are slated for the 28th of this month.
Singh, burned about her face and neck during an acid attack in 2008, said she received death threats in the form of telephone calls to her home.
The attorney-at-law who was a founding member of the Alliance For Change (AFC) has said that her presence on the PPP/C platform has triggered some unrest in the minds of some people in the country. “Almost instantly, my phones, both at home and at office, started to [receive calls] of threats, accusing me of crossing the floor, threatening me that this time they were going to kill me,” she said. She said the numbers that called her house with the threats were all unknown, and the calls to the office could not have been monitored since there was no caller ID installed on the phone.
She said she has not reported the calls to the police. “I am still talking with GT&T to trace those calls,” she said, when asked why she has not yet informed the police about the death threats.
“Why me? Is it something that is so thoroughly wrong that I should not be in politics, or that I should not be on the political platform to make a contribution (to) my society or choose who I want to be the leader of this country? I think the political situation in Guyana is becoming one [in which] if you stand up or speak out for what is right in this country, you are going to be a target,” she said.
“The first one had taken me by surprise and shock; but, this time around, I am all prepared to face the circumstances that are going to come to me,” she said. “I want you, the media, to know that it is happening, so that when something serious happens, you wouldn’t be taken by surprise, like I was taken by surprise on May 28, 2008,” she said, referring to the day she was doused with acid by an assailant.
“In September 2006, I resigned from that party,” she said. “I have no obligations to that party, and therefore I think – looking at the progress that has taken place in Guyana – it is right that I give my support to the ruling party in the upcoming elections, that they go through and continue with the progress in Guyana,” she said.
When asked about any promises made to her as inducement for joining the ranks of the Civic, Singh said the PPP/C was not obligated to her. “When I proposed to give my support to Comrade Donald, it was last year December. I had just come out of a surgery for my eye, and I indicated to Donald by way of a Christmas card [that I hope he is selected as the person to lead our country in the next elections, come 2011],” she said. “I didn’t ask for any position, I don’t want any position. I am committed to the development of this country, whatever form it can be. As a lawyer, I am quite happy with the legal aid I have been giving persons, especially women in domestic violence situations,” Singh said.
She said that during 2010, when the AFC had its “wrangling” as to who was going to be the presidential candidate, Khemraj Ramjattan called her at home to ask her about what she knew about the rotation of the presidential candidate position, as a founding member who was charting the constitution of the party.
“He was not concerned with how many people were supporting Raphael Trotman, or how many people chose Trotman above him. The fact that there was a rotation, he had to be the presidential candidate,” she said. “It was a self-serving interest, so I said to Ramjattan (that) I was not going to take that position,” Singh said.
On what she sees different in the PPP from 2006 to now, she said that a lot has been done in the country from 2006 to now. “We have moved a far way. We have had so much infrastructure development taking place,” she said. “I have great confidence in the leadership of Donald Ramotar for the presidency of this country,” she said.
For his part, Hamilton said he was not bitter with the PNCR. He pointed to the fact that, over the four years from 2007 to present, he has not written anything or spoken ill of the party he once called home. He said that, in 2007, he and others sought to change the way the PNCR governed itself, and supported Vincent Alexander in his bid to oust Robert Corbin as leader of that party.
Hamilton said some of the people in the most senior positions in the PNCR were asking him why he as a “black man” was supporting a “coolie man” over a “black man.” He said when these persons come and talk to him they do not put programme against programme. “They put Granger, a black man like me, against Ramotar, an Indian. That is their discussion, and I would have no part of any party whose only discussion is one of race in politics,” he said.
He said that since the PNCR Congress of July 23, 2007, he has had no relationship with that party. He severed ties with the party because of what he described as the vulgarity and profanity that he saw displayed and orchestrated by the leadership of the party at the 2007 Congress. “So the discussion about Hamilton leaving the PNC to join the PPP is a non-discussion. I have had no relationship over the last four years with the PNCR,” he said.
“Even before the announcement at Albion, I have been giving material support to the PPP over the year,” he said. He disclosed that he had two sons in the Progressive Youth Organisation and that he has played a part in influencing their choice of political party to support. “Structurally, it is only the PPP/C as a political entity that has the necessary structure to govern,” he said.