Ramjattan surfaces after being “sidelined”

…assigned role to attack PPP/C’s Manifesto

Following weeks of being out of the public spotlight following the Whim Rally of the PNC-led APNU/AFC coalition, Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Khemraj Ramjattan has come out with a statement criticising the PPP/C manifesto.

Following the merger of APNU and AFC, even though he had claimed this would result in the AFC becoming “dead meat”, Ramjattan had faded off the political scene. Though he had been seen at several of the coalition’s rallies he had not taken the stage and at times stood among the crowd.

There have been speculations that Ramjattan might have fallen out with the leaders of the campaign- Raphael Trotman and Joseph Harmon who according to reports decide the speakers for the major rallies. One of his former executives, Francis Darcheville, had claimed that the two men were bitterly opposed to each other.

Since the coalition launched its campaign Ramjattan was seen at the Linden rally as well as Whim, where he was photographed sleeping during David Granger’s speech.

He was reportedly dispatched later in the Orealla/ Siparuta area for a period to campaign, but even when he returned he was denied the stage. Ramjattan fears of becoming “dead meat” appears to have been assuaged by the 12 seats; two Vice presidents, the primeministership and 40% of the Cabinet, offered by David Granger, leader of the PNC and APNU. Ramjattan quickly signed the Cummingsburg Accord, which solidified the agreement.

On Sunday he emerged from his hibernation, slamming the recently released PPP/C manifesto as a “compendium of emptiness.” It appears that this might be the role designated for Ramjattan in the campaign. “This is a hollow document, made up of empty promises, rhetoric and gimmickry,” said Ramjattan. He said too that “above all, the cheap talk about what they will do about corruption bares them naked. Their omission to actually do anything about the sellout of the people’s patrimony in our forest and mining sectors and the massive corruption in procurement of goods and services makes the manifesto bereft of any meaning and credibility,” Ramjattan asserted.

“The PPP has a record of outstanding failure. They have failed to deliver on reduced taxation, they have failed to hold Local Government Elections in 20 years, the fibre optic cable project has been a $3.6B failure, they have failed to establish the Public Procurement Commission, they have failed the sugar industry, they have failed the rice industry,” Ramjattan explained.

PPP/C Response: Attention-seeking

But the PPP/C described Ramjattan’s attack on their manifesto as a response designed to get some attention and does not reflect any careful thought.

“We advise him that much of his talk about emptiness and a manifesto full of promises that are not meant to be kept fully and accurately describes the APNU/AFC’s manifesto that was released and eventually withdrawn. The PPP/C has a manifesto we are proud of. We are not embarrassed that we have to claim someone leaked it.”

“We also remind Ramjattan that so far as specifics are concerned more than 75% was plagiarised from various PPP/C’s documents covering policies, strategic and business plans and implementation programmes. Ramjattan needs to be reminded that rice is a success story in our country. This industry was crippled under the PNC, their lead party. The PPP/C restored the rice industry. We brought it to where each crop establishes new records and since 2012, each year we have established new export records.”

According to the PPP/C each market destination offers better prices than world market prices, noting that this crop is set to surpass 350,000 tons, the largest ever single crop production. It said too that the yield per acre is set to be about 5.8 tons, the highest national yield ever and, “thus, far we have exported more than 150,000 tons with contracts for immediate shipment of over 300,000 tons.

At the present pace we will attain export quantity of more than 600,000 this year, surpassing the target of 514,000 tons.”

The PPP/C said it acknowledges that farmers and millers face continuing challenges because of this success, noting that the number one challenge is the early payments made to farmers.

“Under the PPP/C government, we have enabled farmers to receive payments within the crop. This is a matter which we have addressed in our manifesto, not with promises but with specific proposals. The price stabilisation mechanism (to be implemented) is designed to ensure that prices are stable and that payments are made on time.”

The PPP/C said in the APNU/AFC manifesto, the proposals made demonstrate their lack of knowledge and how bereft they are of ideas to develop the industry.

“We have emphasised in our various programmes and in our rice development strategy the importance of research. This is an important enough focus area to be included in our manifesto. In their effort to endorse this approach, the APNU/AFC demonstrated their total lack of knowledge why research is important and how to implement a strong research programme,” the PPP/C said.

Regarding the sugar industry, the PPP/C again stressed that it was on its death bed when the PPP/C took it over in 1992.

“It is the PPP/C that brought sugar back to life in Guyana. Except for one year, we have surpassed the 200,000 tons production every year. Under the PNC, we almost dropped to less than 100,000 tons. Most times, throughout the 1980s, Guyana’s production fell far below 200,000 tons. Yet the PPP/C brought sugar back from the death bed to a robust industry. We have confronted major challenges such as climate change and the EU’s arbitrary ending of the sugar protocol. We have had to overcome the unconscionable reduction of 36% in the price for sugar. But the industry has survived and last year again increased its production.”

The PPP/C in 2015, it will again meet its target and has set out clearly plans to attain 400,000 tons of sugar and to diversify GuySuCo’s product line by 2020.

“For this reason we have outlined a minimum of $20B for the sugar industry. These are not empty promises. We have outlined clearly our plans for GUYSUCO. We note that they continue their ambiguous position on sugar. They continue to insist that the sugar industry must be closed. The truth is that the APNU-AFC have blown hot and cold on rice and sugar, playing politics, instead of giving genuine support so that these two major industries can continue to grow and serve our people and our country. The Alliance’s manifesto has plagiarized extensively from various PPP/C programs. The truth is that the PPP/C has brought progress to Guyana with programmes like the ones contained in our manifesto,” the ruling party said.