Ramkarran: Jagdeo has effectively undermined Ramotar – in lopsided contest to become Opposition Leader
FORMER Speaker of the National Assembly and People’s Progressive Party (PPP) stalwart Ralph Ramkarran has described the trouncing of former President Donald Ramotar by his predecessor, Bharrat Jagdeo for the post of Opposition Leader as quite embarrassing and a bitter pill for Ramotar to swallow.
In the recent contest, the ‘Champion of the Earth’ prevailed over Ramotar at the Central Committee, gobbling up 35 votes to Ramotar’s 9.
The immediate past President was allegedly fought down by Jagdeo, but it was reportedly through Jagdeo’s efforts he was made Presidential Candidate in 2011, even though it did not happen through popular sentiments.
Worse, Ramkarran, in his weekly informative blog, Conversation Tree, said it was the virtual abandonment of Ramotar by the Central Committee, of which he was General Secretary for 15 years.
“Mr. Ramotar ignored the fact that Dr. Jagdeo’s insatiable ego cannot be satisfied by fraternal considerations or rational calculations,” Ramkarran said, adding: “In any event, Mr. Ramotar apparently did not realise that with the loss of two elections and Dr. Jagdeo’s grip on the leadership, his political career was over.”
The former PPP Executive also revealed that Mr. Ramotar had long ago ceded authority to Dr. Jagdeo, and has no one but himself to blame for his loss of influence in the Central Committee.
He said Mr. Ramotar may accept the humiliation of rejection, and soldier on with diminished influence, likely without a Parliamentary seat, as he would have to bear the embarrassment of an immediate past-President sitting at third place behind Dr. Jagdeo and Mr. Clement Rohee.
But he pointed out that Ramotar would justify continued low-level activism by deluding himself that he is maintaining party unity.
“This has always been the answer to his failure to respond to Dr. Jagdeo’s most egregious behaviour. This silent approbation allowed serious schisms to arise within the party, which remained unaddressed. The worst was the resignations of Ramjattan and Nagamootoo that led directly to the PPP’s loss of power. This damage to the PPP, Mr. Ramotar’s ill-fated decision to seek the candidacy for President in 2011, despite Dr. Jagdeo’s support and the ruling clique’s rejection of a national-unity government have together brought the PPP to its knees,” the former PPP stalwart explained.
A DISASTER
The selection of Jagdeo by the Central Committee as its nominee for the Opposition Leader post, Ramkarran said, has sealed that Party’s fate in opposition for decades to come, unless the APNU+AFC Coalition underperforms or unravels.
The PPP has been shattered by defeat, its leadership disgraced by corruption, and it has lost the sympathy of the international community through abuse, corruption and the refusal to hold Local Government Elections.
The former Speaker noted that with no intention by the ruling clique, headed by Jagdeo, of giving up power, the return of its younger Members of Parliament (MPs) and a sprinkling of new faces to Parliament would be mere window dressing.
This new generation of leaders, the highly respected Attorney-al-Law said, stands no chance of influencing policy to rebuild the PPP or unite Guyana.
Buttressing his claim, Ramkarran pointed out that the recently expressed views by PPP Member of Parliament, Dr. Vindhi Persaud as to the way forward for the Party in her recently published email, and its rejection, symbolise the impotence that this group will face.
Knowing Jagdeo, who is in his early 50s, Ramkarran said the power-obsessed former President will retain his hold on the leadership for at least the next 20 years, while still trying to secure a third-term.
DENUDE
“He never intended to stand aside,” Ramkarran said, “despite his promises. It means that an entire generation of younger leaders will have no chance of aspiring to leadership, or influencing the Party’s direction. Since the spoils of office are no longer available to be granted or taken away, there would be a limit to the success of his methods of leadership. In any event, his continued grip on power, and greed for the limelight will smother younger leaders, and denude the PPP of talent, leaving it with sycophants, and as an ineffective opposition force. Eventually, he will again choose the next leader.”
He said by electing Dr. Jagdeo, the Central Committee seems prepared to abide by his methods of abuse, control and sycophancy.
Jagdeo sees himself as the most gifted and charismatic intellect and strategist who will save the PPP and Guyana.
But Ramkarran said Jagdeo and the leadership’s vision is of a ceaseless ‘struggle’ against the ‘PNC’ and ‘rigged elections’, and no compromise with the ‘de facto government’.
Primary to the strategy, the former PPP stalwart said, will be a defence of his record; what he would pompously refer to as his ‘legacy’.
He said Jagdeo will also try to convince supporters that they were robbed, thereby perpetuating a sense of ‘victimhood’.
And by this, he will ensure the persistence of the national ethnic contest, which was exploited so effectively by the PPP in the recent elections campaign.
STRATEGY OF CHOICE
The PPP, Ramkarran said, no doubt now sees this move as the strategy of choice.
He also informed that the PPP has made, arguably, the most egregious blunder in its entire history by failing to implement Dr Cheddi Jagan’s ‘shared governance’ or ‘winner-does-not-take-all’ policies in political conditions in 2011, where it could have been easily sold to its supporters.
“The PPP would have had to make fundamental concessions and share power in circumstances of equality, where it would not ‘dominate or be dominated’, a policy also advocated by Jagan. The national unity thereby created would have transformed Guyana and revolutionised our politics. Our nation would once again have been able to aspire to 1950 and bring within reach our motto of ‘One People, One Nation, One Destiny’. But President Ramotar had made it plain in 2011 that power sharing ‘would not happen.’ The ruling clique of the PPP has deliberately killed the dream of unity and is on its way to Parliament to bury it,” he said.
