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An Ex-Speaker Speaks

Jul 04, 2012 Editorial

Ralph Ramkarran, former Speaker of the House of Assembly, has finally decided to speak. Ironically, it was his action following his words that had the greatest impact on those to whom his speech had been directed: he resigned from the PPP. One gets a sense that this action had been a long time coming and its final actualisation highlights a central trait of Ramkarran – his loyalty to his party’s principles.
To say that the PPP was ‘Ramkarran’s party” goes beyond a trite figure of speech: his father “Boysie” Ramkarran was a founding member of the party and as a child literally grew up in the party. Unlike many others, however, the young Ramkarran did not remain in the party because of sentiments – whether filial or ethnic – but because he firmly believed in its philosophy of Marxism-Leninism. By 1974 when he joined the Central Committee, the PPP had officially declared itself as an orthodox communist party.
Unlike many PPPites, Ralph Ramkarran wore his ideology on his sleeve and would speak on behalf of the party from a Marxism-Leninist perspective, to great effect. But most of all, he came off as a ‘Jaganite’ which might not be surprising since Jagan lived next door to the Ramkarrans since 1966. But many believe that it was his loyalty to the ideology that in the end undermined his own effectiveness.
Marxism- Leninism, after all, as practised by the PPP after 1969, adopted the Leninist innovation of ‘democratic centralism’. This meant, among other things, that once a decision was made by the leadership – whether the Ex-Co or the Central Committee, those leaders had to defend that decision in public. This is similar to the notion of “Cabinet responsibility”. What it meant in practical terms was if an individual disagreed vehemently with a particular party position, his only recourse was to resign. To take the disagreement ‘outside’ would be seen as a ‘betrayal’ by insiders.
The present contretemps between Mr Ramkarran and the PPP must be viewed against this background. Many persons who supported Mr Ramkarran for the PPP’s presidential candidacy last year were disappointed when he did not speak out at the manoeuvres in the ExCo that sidelined his bid. A similar situation reared its head in 2004 when Khemraj Ramjattan was censored by the PPP for allegedly discussing party matters to US embassy officials. At that time Mr Ramjattan complained bitterly that twenty-nine other Central Committee members, including Mr Ramkarran, signed a petition that did not accurately represent what transpired at a particular meeting.
When Mr Ramjattan was eventually expelled, the PPP explained its position which might be relevant in the instant case: “we have always made it clear to Cde. Ramjattan that there is no rule against Party members giving their views in public… However, as a leading member of the Party holding a seat on the Central Committee, his responsibilities need to be discharged in a manner that does not denigrate Party and Government leaders or bring Party and Government policies into disrepute.
Free speech did not mean that he could deliberately ignore his obligation to adhere to Party rules and that some degree of commitment to collective decision making processes which is an important hallmark of all organisations, voluntarily or otherwise, was essential.”
From information circulated by the PPP subsequent to Mr Ramkarran’s resignation, he felt “insulted” by the comments of an individual on the ExCo. It would appear that the comments were prompted by an article by Ramkarran calling on the party to deal with ‘pervasive corruption’ in the country.
Since the party has indicated that the individual ‘apologised’ to Mr Ramkarran, it implies that Mr Ramkarran is not being accused of ‘speaking out of school’ on party matters – as was the case with Mr Ramjattan.
In fact, President Ramotar has recently also made such a call even though he did not believe that corruption was ‘pervasive”. But we believe that in negotiating his possible return to the PPP, Mr Ramkarran must call for democratic centralism to be abandoned in the PPP.

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