Everything Jagdeo has done is to advance his self-interest

Apr 23, 2015 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
The ascendancy of former President Bharat Jagdeo as the lead spokesperson in the PPPC election campaign is a “bittersweet pill” for the anti–Jagdeo elements in the ruling party. The old guard experienced systematic marginalization under his 12 years as President. They saw their political future threatened as he strengthened his dominance of the party by developing a cadre of new leaders committed to him.
Once again the old guard find themselves entrapped in an unholy alliance with the former President, as they attempt to stave off an election defeat by the APNU+AFC coalition in the May 11, 2015 General and Regional elections.
It is no secret that Jagdeo during the period of his presidency had become so powerful, answerable only to himself, using his weight as President to subvert the PPP party control of the government. This became very clear before the death of former President, Mrs. Janet Jagan.
Evidence of the struggle between the old guard in the party and Jagdeo manifested itself at a critical juncture in the party’s evolution. It accelerated at the time when Mrs. Jagan, the de facto leader of the party, spoke out against the Jagdeo government’s refusal to end its ban on government ads to Stabroek News. This action by Mrs. Jagan drew a hostile public rebuke from Jagdeo who told her that she had no right to interfere with his government’s business since she was only a private citizen.
Mr. Ralph Ramkarran, a former Speaker of the National Assembly and executive member of the PPPC, had observed some time ago that in that incident no one in the PPPC came out in defence of Mrs. Jagan. This demonstrated the level of fear persons who were senior members of the party at that time, had for Jagdeo. I was reliably informed that Mrs. Jagan, subsequent to Jagdeo’s public admonishment of her, had vowed to settle scores with the man she made President when he demitted office. However, death intervened and she passed away before Jagdeo’s term ended.
In the latter part of Jagdeo’s Presidency and during the run-up to the 2011 general elections the internal rift in the PPP intensified. The old guard began plotting the political demise of Jagdeo.  With their control of GAWU, they crafted a strategy based on the known history of sugar workers to down tools without the blessings of the union leadership.
During the period of the lead-up to the 2011 elections, Guyana saw a significant number of strikes, the majority of which were unofficial. This led observers to conclude that those strikes were indications of the sugar workers expressing their resistance to the ruling party. To some extent this was partly true, since workers were dissatisfied with their declining earnings and conditions of work. But the frequency of these strikes was in the main, the work of the old guard. They used the union to undermine Jagdeo in their efforts to regain control of the party.
Jagdeo was not fooled and he fought back, instructing his Minister of Labour to publicly threaten GAWU with derecognition. This was a clear indication of the prevailing internal conflict. For the old guard, their tactics was to show that under Jagdeo’s rule the party was losing support. The union that historically was the backbone of the party’s rise to power was demonstrating its discontent with his government. This, they hoped, would have weakened Jagdeo and ensured that his presidency ended, in keeping with the constitutional requirement.
In the process of asserting themselves, the old guard succeeded in averting Jagdeo’s quest for a third term. But the party paid a political price in the 2011 elections, since the sugar workers’ action had a demoralizing effect on the party support base. Some supporters voted for the AFC. More importantly, larger numbers refused to come out and cast their voters. These are not the only reasons why the PPPC lost the plurality in 2011. They are contributory factors.
The opposition unintentionally helped Jagdeo in the internal party struggle by adopting the tactic of portraying Ramotar as Jagdeo’s sidekick and attributed his run for the presidency in 2011 to the sponsorship of the former President.  While this was a good tactic to discredit Donald Ramotar, and was killing two birds with one stone, it failed to exploit the internal struggle in the party.
Instead of driving a wedge between the two men, the opposition portrayed them as united. This approach continued throughout Ramotar’s presidency, thereby helping Jagdeo to remain relevant and aided his reemergence as the “kingpin” of the ruling party.
Those who question the thesis of an internal party struggle in the PPPC should be mindful of the public efforts of Jagdeo’s allies who in the lead-up to the 2011 elections had campaigned for him to run as the PPP’s presidential candidate for a third term, in defiance of the constitution.
A recent indication of Jagdeo’s re-emergence in the presidential stream was when he took it upon himself to assure a foreign company of the Guyana government agreeing to a request it had made to the government. The PPP saw this as an affront to President Ramotar and the party, and publicly reminded Jagdeo that he was out of line.
The no-confidence motion by the AFC which garnered the support of APNU in parliament created the biggest challenge for both the Ramotar Presidency and the old guard in the ruling party. This political dilemma placed Ramotar and his inner circle in a no-win situation politically, both in the party and country. It was the moment that the former President and his faction were waiting for.
The PPP, now caught up in a life-and-death situation became easy pickings for Jagdeo. It is in this context that his ascendency has to be understood. His detractors in the party, who hate the best bone in the man, had to choose between the party’s certain electoral demise and, giving the party an outside chance of pulling things back.
In this situation, Jagdeo was able to convince all sides he and only he could get the job done.  The old guard in face of the real politics of the situation decided to take the chance in a high risk gamble to succumb to Jagdeo’s control. It is my contention that everything Jagdeo has done so far is intended to advance his self-interest over and above the PPP party’s interests.
Once they lose the elections the house of cards will tumble down. I am anxiously awaiting that spectacle.
Tacuma Ogunseye

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