Ramkarran should be PPP/C presidential nominee

Mar 10, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
It seems as if at least three persons will vie for the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) nomination for next year presidential race for the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.
They are: General Secretary of the party, Donald Ramotar, Clement Rohee, who has been in the movement since he was a teenager, and Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran, who is currently the Speaker of the National Assembly.
I feel that Ramkarran who is the son of founder member and treasurer of the PPP, Ramkarran, is the best choice and he should be the next President of the Republic of Guyana.
The well known city attorney grew up in politics and was in the trenches with his father in the early sixties.
He joined the PPP as a teenager and sold the party’s organ “Thunder” as a child in 1957, and took over his father’s route as the senior Ramkarran entered Government. He travelled with his father throughout Guyana on political campaigns before he journeyed to the United Kingdom to read law where he was engaged in the free and fair elections and democracy campaign and took part with other foreign students on issues like apartheid in South Africa, and the Vietnam War.
On his return to Guyana Ramkarran was involved in defending party members. He was elected to the Central Committee of the PPP in 1974 and in 1975 in the Executive Committee. He became Chairman of the Constitutional Reform Commission in 1999 and Speaker in 2001, a position he still holds.
The President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, is not eligible to run for office, since the Constitution was amended a few years ago restricting the presidency to serve only two terms in office.
Guyana’s general elections are conducted on a Proportional Representation (PR) system where electorates vote for a party and not a candidate, and the leader of the party selects the representatives on the basis of percentage of votes cast.
The PR system was introduced in 1964 by the British to keep Cheddi Jagan, the founder of the PPP out of office because of his association with Cuba’s Fidel Castro and for his leftish tendencies.
Ramkarran will get stiff opposition for the party’s nominee from Ramotar who succeeded Cheddi Jagan in March 1997 as General Secretary. Ramotar besides being the party’s General Secretary has also been a member of the Central and Executive Committee, and is popular in the rural areas. It is reported that Ramotar will get support from outgoing President Bharrat Jagdeo.
It is rumoured that two others are interested to enter the race.
They are Moses Nagamootoo, bankbencher, who has been active in the party since he was a teenager, and Agriculture Minister, Robert Persaud.
Unlike the past two general elections, there is no automatic presidential candidate since the incumbent is not eligible for reelection due a constitutional term limit.
Ramkarran has an impeccable character; he is extremely intelligent and can rub shoulders with world leaders.
There is no doubt that the PPP/C will return to power not because it has performed well in the past, but because the two opposition parties, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and the Alliance for Change (AFC) are not strong enough to win the next general elections.
The PNCR is much weaker today than it was at the last general elections because of internal squabble and the AFC only has support in Georgetown and is almost unknown in the rural areas.
Oscar Ramjeet

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