Dev is not inaccurate on collapse of PCD talks

Sep 14, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
I write in response to Mr. Tacuma Ogunseye’s attack on Shri Ravi Dev (Kaieteur News September 12), on the collapse of PCD unity talks during the anti-dictatorial struggle.
I have known Dev in NY since the early 1980s and can assure Ogunseye and readers that Dr. Dev does not lie and or manufacture information and he does not distort facts or mislead or deceive the public.
I am knowledgeable of certain facts relating to the issue (Dev claiming that the WPA’s position was the PPP accepted a minority of seats) raised by Ogunseye having been privy to separate discussions with the WPA leadership and the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan.
I was a regular donor to the WPA and a regular visitor at Rodney House visiting annually during the late 1980s and early 1990s and had regular exchanges with some of the WPA leaders, often accompanied by Dev and Dr. Ramharack.
In conversations I had with WPA leaders, sometimes accompanied by Dev, they laid out a compelling case why Dr. Jagan should not be the consensus presidential candidate.
My recollection is they proposed Ashton Chase for that position pointing out that Afro-Guyanese would not be very inclined to vote for the PCD with Dr. Jagan as the consensus candidate.
I raised the issue with Dr. Jagan in several meetings I had with him in NY and at Freedom House. Stalwarts in the PPP and Dr. Jagan himself told me the PPP was opposed to the WPA position, but Cheddi, the conciliator he was, had actually caved in to the demands that he forego the presidency.
However, he insisted, in his conversations with me, that the PPP get a majority of MPs and Cabinet positions. I believe that was one of, if not, the sticking point that led to the collapse of negotiations for a consensus PCD candidate.
The WPA leaders, I conversed with, did not feel the PPP had a majority of support in the country (in effect a minority) and as such they felt the demand for a majority of seats was unreasonable and untenable.
A TRPI poll was conducted by Prof. Baytoram Ramharack, Dev, Vassan Ramracha, and others showing the PPP as the largest vote getter and the WPA with miniscule support (the actual outcome of the election results as it turned out).
The WPA officials were quite disturbed by the findings of the poll and the pollsters were declared persona non grata at Rodney House. I, myself had nasty comments made against me which I did not take personally and I was even told I was not welcomed at the WPA headquarter although I was welcomed warmly when I was in town.
Some of WPA officials pointed out to me that they felt they had more support than the PNC and dismissed the TRPI poll’s findings which would turn out to be correct, reflecting the outcome of the 1992 election.
The WPA officials I interacted with trumpeted that the party was multi-racial, citing its composition in leadership and membership. And I also felt the party was multi-racial as it did not advocate for any one race. As it turned out, the party did not attract much Indian support.
At the time, voters gravitated to a party based on perceived racial outlook – Africans to the PNC, Indians to the PPP.
Even after what the Africans experienced the dictatorship, the WPA and the other minor parties attracted meager African support.
As Dev rightly penned, it turned out in retrospect, a grave error was made by the WPA in not accepting Dr. Jagan’s offer of Dr. Clive Thomas being the Prime Ministerial candidate in a consensus slate.
I met Clive at UG and raised the matter with him. Out of principle, he politely declined and suggested that the position be offered to Dr. Roger Luncheon.
It is now history as Sam Hinds would become the PM. Incidentally, after he was elected President, Dr. Jagan told me he wanted Dr. Thomas as his Minister of Planning and Development, suggesting the confidence and faith he had in Clive.
It was unfortunate that the PCD discussions for unity collapsed as it has defined our divisive politics till this day. Unity collapsed because others saw the PPP as a minority.
And so Dev is no liar. Since Dr. Jagan was willing to compromise, others should have been prepared to yield to more of his demands, especially that the PPP was and still is a majority party, for the sake of unity.
Vishnu Bisram

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