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Time for Nagamootoo to show he’s a true leader or just fade away

Aug 13, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,   
Shakespeare told us about that tide in the affairs of men which when taken at the flood leads on to success.
Recent events in Guyana have me thinking that the tide has commenced washing in the affairs of certain erstwhile mainstream politicians from the PPP who have been sidelined. Of course they will need to have the vision to see that tide change, and then the will to cast off the fear and indecision crippling them and step forward firmly to seize the new opportunity now coming their way.
Just recently Peeping Tom pointed out that there is room for a fourth party in Guyana. Unfortunately I did not read the whole article but what appeared to be the main theme was in accord with my own thinking that neither the AFC, the so-called Third Force, nor the newly formed APNU are living up to expectations. I was wondering into what niche a fourth party could fit, when a bit of news in the media suddenly presented a picture to my mind. The bit of news was that Mr. Nagamootoo had denounced the PPP’s Central Committee’s decision to postpone the party’s Congress until after elections on the claim that they had to concentrate on the forthcoming general elections. Nagamootoo apparently thought that was a dodge to prevent the highest decision-making body in the Party from pronouncing on Mr. Ramotar’s appointment as Presidential Candidate.
I am sure Nagamootoo did what he did full well knowing and accepting the consequences. In all likelihood he will now be thrown out of the party and a serious smear campaign will be started against him, or he will keep hanging on and be ignored to show that he is no longer of any consequence in the Party. The impression I have is he is in a fighting mood and wants to do something now to save his Party from what people are beginning to describe as the Jagdeo-Ramotar cabal. Further evidence of that cabal is the widespread belief that the PPP will never name a Prime Ministerial Candidate, for in a Ramotar administration Jagdeo will be the Prime Minister. The precedence has already been set in beloved Russia.
If that is the way Nagamootoo is thinking he will never have a better opportunity to act than now. This apparent cabal is losing or has already lost the support of many old stalwarts of the Party, all of whom still have much grass-root support. They may even be afraid of its General Council which is why they postponed Congress. Some who yet support the cabal may be doing so because of the jobs they hold, but if a clear choice is given them many may move away. If Nagamootoo could get the support of those people, this is the time for him to show that he is a true leader and boldly step forward and form his own version of the PPP.
I know that there is yet a hangover in the Party over the Jagan-Burnham split many years ago, but this time it would not be racial but a serious attempt to retake the party from a small group that has hijacked it for their own benefit. If Nagamootoo and the other cold-shouldered PPP stalwarts do have the guts to step forward and form that Party, they could very well form the next Guyana Government, as I would put their chances ahead of all the other contenders, including the Jagdeo-Ramotar faction. What they should do, if they ever enter the fray, is to form their cabinet in advance of elections, thereby letting the voters know precisely who will be Minister of what, and then present their agenda for development and national reconciliation. If they could get men like Messrs. Yesu Persaud and Clifford Reis to hold senior positions in that cabinet, I think their victory will be assured.
The other choice open to them is to do nothing and simply fade away as they will never again be in mainstream politics, and Guyana will go its old apparently predestined way.
Kumar D. Doobay

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