Ramotar, Anthony, Vindhya no-shows on PPP rally stage
FORMER President Donald Ramotar and former Members of Parliament, Dr Frank Anthony and Dr Vindhya Persaud were notable faces missing on stage, as the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) launched its elections campaign on Sunday in Kitty.
Before a sizeable crowd of supporters, the PPP/C launched its campaign with a rally, ahead of the Regional and General Elections slated for March 2. At this launch several PPP/C stalwarts, including former ministers and members of Parliament, were seen seated on stage set up in front of the crowd. Few of these known politicians addressed the crowd, and they were joined by few new, young party members, who also spoke at the rally.
Seated at stage front were: former President, now Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo; presidential candidate and former Minister, Irfaan Ali; prime ministerial Candidate, Brigadier (ret’d) Mark Phillips; former President, Samuel Hinds; Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira; former Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall; former Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon; former Junior Minister of Finance, Bishop Juan Edghill; and former Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai.
Notably absent from this array of PPP/C politicians were former President Donald Ramotar and former members of Parliament, Dr. Frank Anthony and Dr. Vindhya Persaud. Instead, Dr. Anthony and Dr. Persaud were noticed off-stage, in the crowd with supporters. Dr. Persaud and Dr. Anthony were among the five contenders vying for the position of presidential candidate within the party; Teixeira, Nandlall and Ali were the other contenders.
Ali and Nandlall eventually became the only two contenders for the position, after the others withdrew their candidacy, citing lack of support. However, it was Ali who was selected for the position by the majority of the 35-member committee, by way of secret ballot.
Following Ali’s selection, supporters of the PPP had taken to Facebook to express outrage over Ali’s selection and some had even called on him to step down, contending that his ‘baggage’ will ‘sink’ the party’s chances of winning the upcoming General and Regional Elections.
Charles Ramson Jr, a member of the party, who had indicated his interest in being the presidential candidate before being shut down, was also sidelined at the rally.
This newspaper observed that Ramson made his way to the stage and joined the rest of the PPP/C lead members at 16:00hrs. The party members were all seated, save for the ushers and security personnel. But Ramson stood on stage behind those members until about 16:30hrs when he left the stage. He was observed greeting few members of the crowd below the stage, as he made his way out into the crowd filling the streets in Kitty. He remained there until the rally concluded.