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Fear is Jagdeo’s main strategy for the recovery of power – Ramkarran
…Jagdeo’s intimidation of Commodore Best is the latest effort designed to maintain a climate of fear
As more observer missions and members of the diplomatic community publicly voice concern over the campaign strategies employed by political parties, the People’s Progress Party/Civic (PPP/C) has come under particular scrutiny from former Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran, for their use of “inflammatory language” at their rallies.
Ramkarran had been a leading member in the PPP/C for decades, and was elected to be Speaker of the National Assembly in 2001 and 2006 but has since left the party.
In a recent column published on his blog, conversationtree.gy, entitled “Pit bull politics”, Ramkarran posited that this move to employ such language began with former President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, at the PPP/C’s Babu Jaan, Port Mourant, gathering last March.
Former Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran
“The pit bull politics of aggression and personal vilification were launched this elections season, as it was at the last elections, with Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo,” wrote Ramkarran. He continued to say that such tactics were used in the 2011 elections with the party focusing on the People’s National Congress Reform administration and abuse of political opponents. The 2011 elections, according to Ramkarran, were characterised by “the excessive use of hostile and accusatory language.”
In his post, the former Speaker posited that the PPP/C viewed the aggression and abuse adopted in the last elections as insufficient in the party’s bid to win Parliamentary majority. Ramkarran wrote that the party has thus concluded that by intensifying inflammatory language and instilling more fear in its support base against the Opposition, it will, this time, retrieve the Parliamentary majority.
The first instance of this, Ramkarran pointed out, came at the Babu Jaan rally during a speech made by Jagdeo. In the speech, the former President related an alleged incident from the last election where opposition supporters intimidated PPP/C supporters through the use of drums and racist language.
Jagdeo has since been sanctioned by the Media Monitoring Unit of the Guyana Elections Commission and brought to court by attorney-at-law Christopher Ram for his statements which seemed to incite racial tensions. However, Ramkarran noted, that such language did not stop there for the Former President.
“The most egregious of Dr. Jagdeo’s assertions was his claim that with the alleged large number of former military officers supporting the APNU+AFC, if the latter party wins the elections, ‘they’ would be kicking down the doors of PPP supporters,” said Ramkarran.
According to him, such language conjures up imagery of a time in the 1970s and 80s, steeped in tensions between Guyana’s two major ethnic groups.
“Then there is also the policy of personal destruction that we have all experienced after criticising Dr. Jagdeo,” continued Ramkarran. He related the instance whereby Commodore Gary Best, a former Chief of Staff, expressed his political preference for the APNU+AFC coalition.
To this end, Ramkarran posited that Jagdeo may feel that Best is being “ungrateful”, as it was under his administration that he was appointed Commodore and subsequently Rear Admiral. This, according to Ramkarran, could be the reason for Jagdeo’s public questioning of the Rear Admiral’s acquisition of his home, “ignoring the possibility that he might also have acquired it just as Dr. Jagdeo acquired his own home –by saving.”
“This is blatant intimidation of Gary Best because there is nothing the President can do to a citizen for exercising a constitutional right,” wrote Ramkarran. “The intimidation of Commodore Best is the latest effort designed to maintain a climate of fear created by the intimidation and personal abuse, and sustained by selective implementation.”
Ramkarran said that this “strategy of aggression” came about early in Jagdeo’s Presidency, citing his infamous insult of former President Janet Jagan in 2006 over the restoration of advertisements to the Stabroek Newspaper. According to Ramkarran, the PPP’s silence on that incident and current behaviour are testament to the party’s adoption of aggressive strategies in its leadership.
“The election strategy, consisting of the type inflammatory language complained of by the diplomatic and observer communities and the PSC (Private Sector Commission), is not going to end because the instillation of fear in PPP is Dr. Jagdeo’s main strategy for the recovery of power,” concluded the former PPP/C member.
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