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An interesting future looms

Jan 12, 2017 Editorial, Features / Columnists

Former president Bharrat Jagdeo was elected General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) last Saturday, thereby consolidating his hold on the party. He defeated Dr. Frank Anthony by almost 100 votes for the most powerful position in the PPP. According to sources close to the PPP, Jagdeo, who is the opposition leader in the National Assembly, was expected to win the election because of his popularity within the PPP. He indeed won handily on the first ballot.
The elections, according to the PPP, were conducted by secret ballot at the first Central Committee meeting following the recent congress at Cotton Field, Essequibo Coast. It is ironic that Mr. Jagdeo accepted voting by secret ballot for the position of General Secretary for the party in 2017. During the process of electing the Presidential candidate of the PPP in 2011, there was a vote by the show of hands, of which Jagdeo approved, and his chosen candidate, Donald Ramotar was selected as the presidential candidate.
It is unclear whether Jagdeo’s recent victory sits well with the old guard of the PPP. For example his immediate predecessor as General Secretary, Clement Rohee, nominated Dr. Frank Anthony. Following the 2013 Congress, Ramotar had handed over the post of General Secretary to Rohee, citing the need to focus more on presidential duties.
While many are happy with Jagdeo’s victory, others believe that his accession to the leadership of the party would likely wither away the Cheddi Jagan flock. Jagdeo is now in a position to dictate the Freedom House agenda and expunge those who oppose him. His victory provides him with the opportunity to inscribe his brand of politics on the party.
For him, loyalty to the Jagans and maintaining the founding principles of the party are no longer good enough to provide the leadership needed to counter the problems and challenges currently facing the country.
He implicitly stated at the Congress that the party should move away from the ideological “isms” and embrace market-oriented policies rather than state-dominated economic development strategies, and focus on what is good for Guyana. This is in sharp contrast to socialist-oriented Marxist-Leninist ideology on which the party was founded.
As the General Secretary, Jagdeo has full control over the PPP, Freedom House and the opposition MPs in Parliament. On the one hand he has stated that he remains committed to the party returning to its founding principles, but in the same breath, he has called on the leaders of the party to get rid of the “isms” on which the party was founded.
Flanked by former President, Donald Ramotar, and former General Secretary, Clement Rohee at Freedom House, Jagdeo painted a bleak picture of the coalition government’s performance. He insisted that over the next three years to the elections, the party will be pulling out all the stops to attract women, youths, professionals, and disgruntled supporters of the government.
Among the various vital decisions made at the Congress was the unanimous resolution that the party will work fervently and assiduously to regain power at the next general and regional elections in order to continue the task of nation building and to arrest the downward slide of the country. The former president stopped short of committing himself to seek a third term in office by saying that that is an entirely different matter.
However, it seems likely he would encounter some major challenges if allowed to run for a third term, because he can be once again viewed as a distraction. An interesting future looms.

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