Latest update April 21st, 2026 12:30 AM
Latest News
- Conflict of interest erupts in Gas to-energy debacle: Govt and contractor sharing same lawyer
- Canadian firm to have 3 to 6 flights per week to move gold, workers out of Mahdia
- Two Guyanese freed, another to stand trial for deadly gas station bombing
- Oil prices rise 6% on fears of US-Iran ceasefire collapse
- Fisherman stabbed to death at Golden Grove
Did Moses Nagamootoo top the list?
The election of the PPP’s central committee appears confusing and that is putting it mildly. There seems to be no logic underpinning the voting.
An attempt to bring clarity may lead one to conclude that like all previous congressional elections in the PPP stretching back to the fifties (Balram Singh Rai accused Cheddi Jagan of manipulating the voting; Burnham on several occasions said the PPP’s internal elections were not clean), last Sunday’s occasion followed the traditional pattern.
Once Mr. Jagdeo came in first, Mr. Robert Persaud should have been closely behind him for reasons that have to do with rationality.
When a delegate voted for Mr. Jagdeo, he had to have one fundamental idea in his/her head – he/she admired the character of Mr. Jagdeo.
Because Mr. Jagdeo is seen as the person who virtually protégéd Mr. Persaud, that delegate would have elevated Mr. Persaud in his/her mind.
The average citizen of Guyana knows that if Mr. Jagdeo has a choice for 2011, it is Mr. Persaud. The congressional voter would not have been unmindful of that.
In the scheme of things, Mr. Persaud did badly. How did he arrive behind Drs. Dr. Luncheon and Anthony, and Gail Teixeira? Behind Jagdeo, Mrs. Jagan and Nagamootoo yes, but certainly not people like Luncheon and Teixeira who are generally viewed as lackluster and on their way out.
Mr. Persaud occupies a Cabinet portfolio that is envious when it comes to making contacts with PPP cells. He perhaps meets them in his daily encounters as Agriculture Minister.
Mr. Persaud did not help his cause by coming across as an inflexible person when he chose not to speak to the Guyanese people on the importance of the congress while his colleagues were waxing lyrical in the media about its positive nature.
I guess some of the Diamond visitors would have paid some attention to that. Or could it be that there was some conspiracy?
Is Mr. Jagdeo that popular? More than Nagamootoo? From talking to people in the countryside who were slated to be delegates, it doesn’t look like Mr. Jagdeo would have been given substantial ballots. The showing of Ralph Ramkarran needs examining. Mr. Ramkarran was devastated.
How do you explain that someone who is so ensconced in the PPP’s contemporary history and is an established national figure could have come in at 22 out of 35? Something is not right here.
I think Mr. Persaud may have had a worse showing than what we see. And that Mr. Ramkarran may have chalked up more than what he officially got. The surprise of course was Anthony and Nagamootoo.
There is definitely confusion here. What would be the reason for Anthony’s elevation? He is not known to be a very visible person.
He tends to be a behind-the-scenes politician. Prior to his ministerial assignment, he presided over an IDB-funded project for the Ministry of Heath.
His current Cabinet occupation would have made him too busy to be all over Guyana talking to PPP district committees.
It is possible that there were conspirators that decided that Anthony should be the replacement for Robert Persaud in terms of grooming a young leader?
If that is so it is both wrong and right. Wrong in the sense that voters’ choice must be deeply respected at all times.
Right in the sense that I honestly believe that Mr. Persaud threw away a phenomenal opportunity to be the replacement of Nagamootoo and Ramjattan in the PPP and the Barack Obama of Guyana.
He grew up in journalism under a fantastic Guyanese – Father Andrew Morrison. You come in contact with Father, you work under Father and you will end up being a modest person full of human rights pride and deeply affected by the need to fight for freedom.
The Nagamootoo placement tells you that the congress had the traditional ring that Balram Singh Rai and Forbes Burnham spoke about.
How the same delegates that chose Nagamootoo could have cast a ballot for Mrs. Jagan, Mr. Jagdeo, Mr. Persaud, Dr. Luncheon among others?
Their mental state at the time made them feel that Nagamootoo was the saviour of the party.
Just two weeks before the election, he was trenchantly critical of the banning of Gordon Moseley? They had to know he had serious issues with the way the PPP is using power at the moment.
They placed him fifth, meaning that they liked him. How could they have liked Jagdeo and Nagamootoo at the same time?
My feeling is that Nagamootoo probably brought first but the public announcement would have been a gargantuan embarrassment to certain key players.
My opinion is that things happened during the vote. You know what I mean.
Share this:
Discover more from Kaieteur News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.