“Our party policy is not determined by what best friends say; best friends can say anything, that’s quite ok. I’m not seeking to besmirch anyone here but Jagdeo indicated quite some time ago that he is not interested.”- Rohee
The People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) has announced its position as it pertains to the so called “opposition poll”. This poll was published in Guyana Times and later in the Guyana Chronicle, indicating that former President Bharat Jagdeo is the most favoured of the party’s presidential candidates for the next General Elections.
This suggests that they are not in support of current President Donald Ramotar, according to PPP General Secretary (GS) Clement Rohee. At his weekly press briefing yesterday at Freedom House, he reteirated that the PPP is fully behind President Ramotar.
Rohee was at the time addressing whether there were elements within the PPP using the state media (Chronicle) to undermine President Ramotar. He said, “The PPP has always stood behind President Ramotar and remains behind President Ramotar.
“The question of the state media and the interaction at the Office of the President, I would believe, is a house keeping matter that will have to be dealt with at that level. But in so far as undermining of the Ramotar Presidency is concerned, PPP stands full square behind President Ramotar.”
The GS further said that PPP remains focused not on that issue but on the Anti Money Laundering Bill, the Budget and “issues pertaining to our party gearing itself for any electoral eventuality; that’s our focus. We are not going to be distracted.”
He explained that if snap elections were called the party will have to sit and determine that. When asked if President Ramotar is the best candidate if such elections were to take place, he countered, “Why not?”
He added, “That’s a matter for the party leadership to decide. At this point I think he is doing a pretty good job. He is representing the country well overseas and domestically as well, so the PPP stands squarely behind President Ramotar.”
Rohee emphatically stated that he knows of no “poll”. He said that the last poll that the PPP conducted was at “our last party congress when the delegates and observers went to the polls at the congress and elected the leadership of the Central Committee. Later on, about two weeks or a month later, we had the election of the Executive Committee of the party.”
Speaking to the perception by some that there are persons from the PPP government pushing for a Jagdeo third term through the state media, he said that “individuals can push whatever they want to push; the PPP is not pushing anything except its support for President Ramotar.”
Rohee also expressed that he “heard President Jagdeo announce quite some time ago that he was not interested” in a third term.
What is worthy of note is that constitutionally a President cannot serve more than two terms, so for any President to run for a third term the constitution would have to be legally amended to facilitate such.
The PPP General Secretary articulated that as it pertains to Jagdeo’s best friend, Dr Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop, a shareholder in Guyana Times, which first ran the article on the “poll” for Jagdeo’s third term, “our party policy is not determined by what best friends say. Best friends can say anything; that’s quite ok. I’m not seeking to besmirch anyone here but Jagdeo indicated quite some time ago that he is not interested.”
According to the Guyana Chronicle article, a “poll” conducted by the combined Opposition revealed that in terms of popularity, that Jagdeo is way ahead of candidates from both A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC).
The Opposition has since denied knowledge of the poll.
APNU Leader Brig David Granger said that he never polled Jagdeo. Khemraj Ramjattan leader of the AFC said that his party never even gave Jagdeo a thought after he left office.
According to the “poll”, Jagdeo is the one most favoured to be the PPP/C presidential candidate for the next general elections, “particularly given that election fever is in the air, brought on by the ongoing gridlock in the National Assembly.”
President Ramotar was not mentioned at all. A source close to the Office of the President said that President Ramotar accused the Chronicle of promoting mischief.
He said that Jagdeo is not eligible for any re-election, now or ever. The question of him ever being a Presidential candidate must have been concocted by a wild mind or by someone with a business interest.