The PPP congress: 15% is alarming

Aug 07, 2008 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

In countless columns, my analytical position on congressional voting in both parties, PPP and PNC, is that it is not a wholly democratic process.

By this I do not mean lobbying. To canvass for votes is in fact a democratic expression. PPP leaders were openly seeking votes at Diamond last Saturday. Nothing is wrong with that!

What I mean is that there are interventionist methods that bend the results. The final results do not reflect the factual way votes were cast. This is a sad character trait in both of the major parties.

Against this backdrop, any assessment of who lost and who won will not be without its flaws. If you read my page yesterday you would see that I believe Nagamootoo created history in that he won the balloting.

We will have to proceed with this evaluation based on the publicly presented results.

The first observation is that out of forty central committee members (forget the five that cannot vote; they are central committee members nevertheless) only six are African Guyanese – (the number indicates the place they brought): Luncheon (6), Rohee (11), Collymore (12), Westford (26), Belgrave (27), Edwards (very last)

Multi-racial image was the first loser. The central committee is the highest forum of the PPP. It is the leadership of that party. After more than sixty years in existence, only 15 percent of that core is made up of African Guyanese.

The second loser is Mr. Robert Persaud. I dealt with that yesterday. Suffice it to say that he lost in the sense that Dr. Frank Anthony, given both his lower party and national profile, will now be seen as the young leader in waiting.

There are other depressing moments. I would like to think that Mrs. Jagan should make way for a younger person who can spend more time and dedicate energy to the PPP future.

Surely, sixty-five years in active party politics are too long for an individual. She plunged into politics as soon as she arrived in Guyana in 1943 and has been in the PPP hierarchy since then. Why would anyone want to keep a slot occupied for so long?

I have not researched it but I believe few persons in 20th century politics in the world have chalked up those decades.

The longevity should be admired but there comes a time when one has to ride away onto other horizons. Bill Gates has called it quits at Microsoft.

He plans to devote the rest of his life to his charitable foundation. There comes a time when the mind cries out for other interests in life.

Another disappointment is Mr. Reepu Daman Persaud. He is not in good health and may have locked up a space that someone could have used.

I believe Mrs. Jagan gets votes out of recognition that she is the only founding member from the forties that is still around.

Mr. Daman Persaud gets sympathy votes. I further believe that for both of them, it is time to move on. Mr. Ramkarran has been devastated.

It is not that he came in at 22 but the kind of personalities that edged him out; some of them are extremely controversial and do not have the party and national standing like Mr. Ramkarran. I believe we have seen the end of Mr. Ramkarran’s interest in active politics.

Mr. Rohee follows next. Outside of Mrs. Jagan and Messrs. Daman Persaud and Ramkarran, he has been around the longest.

He is the most enduring PPP Minister in the party’s history. No one has achieved more time in a PPP Cabinet than him. Yet he could not make it into the first five or even the first ten.

There were some huge winners. Moses Nagamootoo has finally created history inside the PPP and in Guyana. He now becomes the Bruce Golding and Deng Shao-Peng of Guyanese politics. Dr. Frank Anthony is the recipient of a nice piece of promotion. What he does with it is anyone’s guess.

I know nothing of Dr. Anthony. What I do know is that I haven’t seen anything written by him or spoken by him that would lead me to believe that he comes within the genre of a Khemraj Ramjattan or a Moses Nagamootoo. After the experience with the newcomer, Bharrat Jagdeo, I have become wary of these potential stars of the PPP.

Mr. Irfan Ally has done well. He is brand new. Anil Nandlall’s 17th space is not bad either. If I were to speak to these two promotions, I would say both men have on their thinking cap. They are open to talking to the press and are not afraid to express their opinions.

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The PPP congress: 15% is alarming

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