THE BIG EVENT OF AUGUST

Jun 26, 2008 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Now that the Golden Jaguars have been eliminated from the World Cup, all attention will be on the Big Event scheduled for this August.

No, I am not referring to the Beijing Olympics. That is nothing compared to the major political competition slated for August of this year right here on Guyanese soil.

Yes, this is going to be bigger than the Summer Olympics in China. It is the event of 2008: the Congress of the ruling People’s Progressive Party.

This is by far the most important congress of the PPP. For one, it will be the final congress of the ruling party before the 2011 elections.

Thus, this congress will have to set the tenor of the party’s future direction if it hopes to regain political power in those elections.

Secondly, it is most likely that the party groups will want to ensure that the leadership in place is one that is capable of taking the party to yet another emphatic victory, this time without Bharrat Jagdeo.

Ultimately the leadership question will become the primary consideration of this congress which is not expected to derail the present policies of the government. Rubber-stamping of these policies is a foregone conclusion, but not so on the leadership question.

Key to ensuring victory at the next elections will be the composition of the Central Executive and Executive Committee.

Since between congress the affairs of the party is managed by a Central Executive and an all-powerful Executive Committee, drawn from and selected by the Central Executive, there is bound to be consideration by the Congress towards ensuring that the Central Executive so elected at Congress is not marginalized by the more dominant Executive Committee which exercises tremendous power.

One of the possible things for consideration would be the exact nature of the relationship between these two groupings since traditionally the Central Executive which develops policies for passage on to the government has itself been constituted with powerful government figures thus ensuring that the government policies are endorsed rather than challenged.

It is most likely the party would wish to exercise greater influence on the direction of government but it is not likely that the Congress will go far enough in actually demanding two sets of elections, one for the Central Executive and the other for the Executive Committee.

Elections are usually a rushed affair at party congress but one solution worthy of consideration would be for the delegates to first elect a Central Committee and then for the delegates themselves to pick from this Committee who they wish to be represented on the Executive Committee.

This is by far a more democratic process and one that allows the highest decision-making body to actually elect the Executive Committee.

If Joseph O’Lall were alive it would have been almost certain that he would have introduced also a motion for the congress itself to elect the party’s presidential candidate.

This is not likely to happen and therefore the greater wireworks of the 2008 Congress of the PPP will be concentrated on the election of the Central Executive.

It is most probable that we will, as happened in the government in 2006, see a changing of the guard. It is predicted that this Congress will see the PPP bidding farewell from its leadership to a number of old stalwarts of the party.

There are at least four key figures that are not likely to be retained within the new power structure and because of the influence of these persons in the past, their retirement from the leadership of the party will mark a changing of the guard.

It is also likely that we will see a serious tussle between the camps of some of the presidential aspirants. However, it is not likely that any one grouping will prevail.

This would mean that the race for the presidential nomination of the party for 2008 will remain open. It is not expected to be decided until near to the elections of 2011 and the decision will rest with the Executive Committee.

All of this means that there is likely to be serious lobbying and campaigning for the positions within the Central Executive. Whichever grouping has the edge in terms of representation in this body is likely to secure the presidential candidate nomination.

It is thus going to be an exciting time come August. So don’t miss it!

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THE BIG EVENT OF AUGUST

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