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Secret ballot is natural to any democratic norm

Feb 17, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
A letter captioned, “PPP Presidential candidate race heats up”, dated February 15, 2011 discussed the controversy within the PPP leadership with regards the selection of the PPP Presidential candidate. I am taking this opportunity to discuss the said issue.
The debate around the use of secret ballot to select the Presidential candidate for the Peoples Progressive Party, of which I am a long-standing member and activist, is heating up.
I fully support the right of the contending candidates to demand secret ballot. The argument by current General Secretary, Donald Ramotar (one of the contenders for the position) that there was none before is ridiculous. Comrade Ramotar is factually incorrect.
The truth is that there was no need for a secret ballot, because the previous candidates were elected unopposed as there were no other contenders. However, there were so many contests in the Central Committee (CC) with regards elections to the executive and these were by secret ballot.
The current contest for PPP presidential candidate is being carried out within the context of Presidential intervention and support for a particular candidate combined with the fact that so many of the voting members at the Executive and Central Committee are directly employed by the State and are at the mercy of the President with regards the security of their employment.
What happened to Cde. Navin Chandarpal, O’lall, Moses Nagamotoo and Rajendra Bisessar are concrete proof and very strong reason for secret ballot rather than the show of hands.
The question is how the decision is to be made whether it would be secret ballot or show of hands. Would it be by secret ballot or by show of hands? A show of hands here would takes us back to the original question and problems.
But there is the argument of secret ballot being natural to any democratic norm and the chairman of the central committee should simply put it to the floor and pre prepare the necessary ballots for the election.
The problem is that the chairman is a contender who realises that secret balloting would kill his presidential ambitions and has pronounced in favour of the show of hands.
It seems therefore that the precondition for a democratic process is for the General Secretary, a nominee, to remove himself from the chair whenever this issue is being discussed.
The President who seems to have thrown in his support for the ‘Donald’ candidacy should do the same.
Those in the CC who have retained democratic tendencies, who have any respect for Dr Cheddi, who have any respect for the members and their aspirations, who have Guyana at heart must unite to stop the present cabal from imposing a presidential candidate in an undemocratic manner.
We must ensure that we place persons in power who will serve our interest and the country’s interest and not in the interest of a cabal of the corrupt, the rich and their family
If the leaders do not denounce their bad habits and mend their ways then we must reclaim the party by leaving them stranded. We must take the party back from them. This is a call to Ramkarran, Moses, Navin and Indra Chandarpal, Komal Chand, Dr Motilall, Philomena Sahoye, Clinton Collymore and others to rally together to preserve the legacy of Dr. Jagan and the PPP as a working class and national party that has pledged to unite and advance Guyana.
In closing I would like to take this opportunity to condemn the President’s attack on the character of Navin. It seems that the President has forgotten the days when we would all be drinking in the Chinese shop obliquely contempt for the thousands of workers in this country who cannot afford the highfalutin places to imbibe and has as their drinking place the rum shops where we all used to hang out with them.
In the meantime let’s not forget a few of the ministers and their favourite watering hole well known to the President.
Rajendra Bisessar

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