THE PPP NEEDS TO BREAK UP WITH BHARRAT JAGDEO

Dear Editor,
I recently read of the petition, which was supposedly signed by 6,000 East Berbicians, requesting that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) appoint former President Bharrat Jagdeo as its next Prime Ministerial candidate with utter disgust. It is nothing more than a naked attempt by the supporters of the former President, and by extension the former President himself, to perpetuate the iron grip he maintains on the party that I support.
I have voted for the PPP since the 1980s and that includes in 2001 and 2006 when Bharrat Jagdeo was the Presidential candidate.
However, I do believe the PPP is more than one individual. The PPP party has survived the deaths of both Cheddi and Janet Jagan, and has continued to thrive because it best represents the concerns of a wide cross-section of Guyanese.

And therefore, I am certain that the PPP can do without Bharrat Jagdeo, whose lust for power has resulted in extensive damage to the party’s infrastructure and the development of countervailing voices that challenge the status quo.
Anyone who dares to challenge Jagdeo within a party forum faces his wrath and the victims have been numerous – Moses Nagamootoo, Navin Chandarpal, Ralph Ramkarran and many others.
Dharamkumar Seeraj, the head of the Guyana Rice Producers’ Association (GRPA) and a well-liked member of the PPP is not Guyana’s Agriculture Minister today because he has the temerity after the 2011 elections to suggest that it was Jagdeo’s “pension and mansion” that resulted in the PPP losing its majority in the National Assembly.
It is for that reason that I am refusing to attach my name to this letter. I would be ostracized within the party that I love and have supported for the past 30 years, because the petty vindictiveness of the former President and his supporters knows no bounds.

Even worse for the PPP, Bharrat Jagdeo’s abusive personality has alienated the “ABC” donor countries of America, Britain and Canada. As a result, the representatives of these countries are actively involved behind the scenes in seeking to oust the PPP Government.
As such, former President Bharrat Jagdeo is no longer an asset to the PPP in an election campaign. He is a grave liability. He galvanizes the opposition to strive harder to deliver his comeuppance, and demoralizes party supporters that are aggrieved by the damage he has wrought to the party of Cheddi and Janet Jagan.
It is, therefore, with this in mind that I recommend that another petition should be started, entreating the former President to retire from politics and become a “private citizen”. If Bharrat Jagdeo cares for Guyana and the PPP, he would step back from the political limelight. However, I doubt that is likely to happen. Because, it is all about Bharrat Jagdeo now, not the PPP and the people of Guyana!
 Anonymous PPP Supporter