President Ramotar and the poetic essence of history

Aug 30, 2012 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Many years ago, the current President of Guyana, in the letter pages of this newspaper, requested that I explain a statement in one of my columns which referred to the “poetic essence of history.” I replied informing Mr. Ramotar that I do not feel inclined to answer his question in a one-off way. I said I would explain what is meant by the poetic essence of history as part of an exchange with Ramotar, if he in turn would define some of the policies his PPP Government is engaged in.
Looking back now, I should have described for Mr. Ramotar what is the poetic essence of history (at the time Ramotar posed his question, a Black American was not the US President but Nelson Mandela had created history, so Ramotar should have known what my statement connoted). Does the president of Guyana know what the poetic essence of history is? My answer is no. Because if he did, he would not have entered a year as the administrator of this country and done absolutely (yes, absolutely) nothing to make a part, a percentage, a section of or the population in general, feel that there will be positive changes and a good future is on the horizon.
Let me just push in a quick line on political theory before I address the issue of the sad failure of Mr. Ramotar, and I mean this most sincerely when I say failure. From the Roman Empire onwards, up to this day, there is a law in power exercise that has had no exception in history. Mr. Ramotar may be the exception. Rulers may leave some major political appointees when they come to power, but as a necessity, they create their own school of subordinates who will give shape and meaning to the leader’s vision. No one can tell me that there wasn’t national disappointment with Mr. Ramotar’s Cabinet and wider State appointees.
One of the devastating criticisms of Mr. Ramotar before the 2011 general elections was that he never held down a full-time occupation in the public sector, even though he was in the hierarchy of the PPP when it came to power in 1992. The only other stalwart in the PPP to face that accusation was Ralph Ramkarran. Ramkarran fired back detailing the public service he gave over the years administering the affairs of the National Assembly and his role in constitutional reform. Mr. Ramotar, unlike Ramkarran, had no such defence.
APNU used the absence of an enduring full-time public sector contribution of Ramotar (he sat on the board of Guysuco which met quarterly) as an election strategy against Mr. Ramotar. The theme was; “No place for Donald.” APNU speakers argued that over twenty years the PPP had been in control of the State, yet it didn’t fit Donald Ramotar into any major public capacity. Speaker after speaker told the APNU rallies that it was an absurdity to then ask the nation to offer the presidency to such a person.
Ramotar must have felt that he had to prove his critics wrong. One would like to think that he must have said that lack of experience does not necessarily undermine vision. And it should not. But in Ramotar’s case it has. If Donald Ramotar had known what the poetic essence of history was all about, he probably would have got the nation and the Guyanese Diaspora excited about the four years he has left. Sadly, the time has passed for Mr. Ramotar.
It is this columnist’s opinion that Mr. Ramotar is not going into the history books, and on his own volition, does not want to go. For every day that passes, the time for history-creating passes Mr. Ramotar. But more than this; even if Mr. Ramotar lacks the capacity to create history, he can try and work with some people who can attempt to do so. There are absolutely no signs that Mr. Ramotar is remotely interested in moving even inches away from the Guyana, the sad, tragic, poor, impoverished, corrupt, racially divided, politically disunited, infrastructurally rundown, confused, dirty Guyana that he met when he became its chief citizen.
He has spent almost a year at the top of the pyramid and some heavy luck has gone his way. An advantage that the combined opposition got after the election, they have happily thrown away. This has made Mr. Ramotar more secure in his ordinariness. This has prevented Mr. Ramotar from having headaches. This will only serve to prolong the vacuum that Mr. Ramotar is content to live his presidential life in.

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President Ramotar and the poetic essence of history

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