Latest update December 23rd, 2024 3:40 AM
Breaking News….PPP hopes to reconcile with Ramkarran
– Says apology was issued
The ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is still pinning hopes on the return of Ralph Ramkarran, saying it intends to engage him “in further discussions with a view of reconciling the matter.”
Ralph Ramkarran
Ramkarran on Saturday, last, resigned from the party which he served for 50 years. He was counted as one of the last remaining longstanding stalwarts who dared to speak his mind on national issues, even though his views did not find favour with party elites at Freedom House.
Ramkarran tendered his one-line resignation after what the PPP described as a heated discussion at the Executive Committee Meeting on Friday.
The Party’s Executive said it hopes Ramkarran will reconsider his action “as there is no fundamental disagreement on any policy issue.”
The PPP related that Ramkarran felt insulted by the remarks of another member and left the meeting before it concluded.
“The offending remark was withdrawn by the member and an apology was also offered,” The PPP stated.
The discussion at the time is believed to have centred on Ramkarran’s recent article in the party newspaper, Mirror, in which he stated that corruption was pervasive.
According to Ramkarran, a lawyer by profession, at a meeting of the party’s Executive Committee on Friday, there were concerns over the articles of corruption he has written.
“…disquiet was expressed about the confidentiality of discussions in my presence having regard to my recent article on corruption.”
“However, difficult it might be to link the two issues, the intensity of the discussions were such that further participation in the activities of the PPP would be a challenge,” Ramkarran stated.
The party stated that fiery debates are not unusual in the Party, but “unfortunately this one led to a resignation.”
“The Party wishes to state that Cde Ramkarran is a long standing and highly respected member. He has made very valuable contributions to the Party and the country as a whole,” the PPP stated.
Ramkarran and his family have been around for decades in the party’s hierarchy.
He has been with the PPP since 1962, becoming a Central Committee member in 1974 and a member of the Central Executive in 1975. He had left Guyana in 1972 to pursue further studies overseas.
His father, Boysie Ramkarran, was a founder member of the PPP, having been a member of the Public Affairs Committee, the forerunner of the PPP.
Ralph Ramkarran served two terms as Speaker of National Assembly, taking over from Martin Zephyr, who was elected Speaker when Derek Jagan died.
Ramkarran was one of two persons in the upper level of the party who never worked with government.
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