The missing link in the PPP

Dec 04, 2013 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

One of the greatest myths in world politics that began in the sixties and lasted way into the eighties, one that textbook after textbook published in the West stressed, was that the then USSR was dominated by a monolithic communist party. Beneath the surface, there were many factions pulling at each other. The same went for the Communist Party of China after the death of Mao.
Changes come about in authoritarian structures when groups within emerge to advance their own way of thinking. In Guyana, the PNC under President Burnham was not the monolithic machine as many Guyanese thought it to be. Mr. Burnham was too towering a figure of reverence inside the PNC for there to be opposition to him. But there were groups that argued with Burnham for different policy directions and succeeded.
The radical Young Socialist Movement did not fall in line all the time and there were the occasional differences with Burnham. Dr. Ptolemy Reid and Desmond Hoyte were never yes men inside the PNC. As Burnham pursued some unpopular policies that began to threaten the PNC’s longevity, factions were born. Burnham was told in no uncertain terms that the flour ban was counter-productive. It didn’t change under Burnham, but at that time, voices emerged to ask Burnham to change directions.
When Desmond Hoyte became President, Hamilton Green led the opposition to him. By this time, there were sections of PNC leaders who opposed some of Hoyte’s plans. Hoyte fought back and removed them. This did not weaken Hoyte. Because he concentrated power in the government and sidelined the PNC itself. Hoyte eventually democratized Guyana.
Though he wanted this, there were people inside his government that were advising him not to democratize.
With the assumption to power of Bharrat Jagdeo, party politics took a turn that was less open than under Mr. Burnham and Hoyte. Mr. Jagdeo began as a schoolboy president, but as the years wore on, he used state power to silence the PPP and succeeded in making the PPP his machine. In fact under Mr. Jagdeo, the PPP as a party in power became a monolithic structure that was more tightly controlled than the PNC under the presidencies of Burnham and Hoyte.
There was absolutely no room for divergent views under President Jagdeo and even when party stalwart, Moses Nagamootoo confronted Mr. Jagdeo, he stood alone. The same happened with Khemraj Ramjattan and Navin Chandarpal. Under Mr. Jagdeo, no voices emerged as in the case of Mr. Burnham, when authoritarian governance became excessive.
This is the party that Mr. Ramotar inherited when he became President.
Why Mr. Ramotar has not done anything that is innovative as adumbrated in the Stabroek News editorial last Monday captioned, “Two Years of Stagnation,” is because unlike the communist parties in USSR, China and the PNC under Burnham and Hoyte, there are no agents of change inside the Guyana Government or the PPP who can argue for a less inflexible exercise of power.
The present PPP is an extremely, inflexible, monolithic unit at the moment and Mr. Ralph Ramkarran found this out in a most shocking way. Once Ramkarran spoke out and was humiliated, no groups ventured out to tell the PPP leadership that Ramkarran cannot be treated this way and he must be listened to. Ramkarran, like Nagamootoo, Ramjattan and Chandarpal, had no umbrella. It is this missing link that explains the plight of Guyana. It is this missing link that explains what the Stabroek News calls, two years of stagnation.
Could a so-called progressive faction emerge in the PPP and seek a new direction that though it will be less autocratic, will still carry the PPP stamp? It doesn’t seem so. If it comes, it will be from some leaders who do not have the years of experience in the party as Ramkarran, Dr. Reid and Desmond Hoyte had in their respective organizations. The more seasoned, Stalinist players will crucify them.
Maybe there is a second missing link (this time in the country itself) that explains why there is no room for changes in the Ramotar administration – the absence of a strong civil society. Two situations explain this; one is the anti-money laundering Bill. If there was a strong private sector to press the Government, then maybe some movement could have occurred.
The other is the moribund state of Georgetown. Again, there is no strong private sector to tell the PPP Government that it can’t let Georgetown rot as it is currently doing.
So what lies in the future? Life is unpredictable. Phenomenal changes have occurred in countries we never could have imagined. Guyana cannot and will not be an exception.

1 thoughts on “The missing link in the PPP”

Mike Jones December 9, 2013 at 9:15 am

Very good article Freddie so true a country been destroyed by a despotic Government and its citizens are afraid to take action due to two reasons in my view they divide and rule culture and the fact that those who once stood up for this country have all become sheep and are afraid of the PPP

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