Former PPP official says PPP is not true to Marxism-Leninism

Feb 06, 2017 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Hyder Ally in a letter dated January 27th and captioned “My party, the PPP, is guided by the principles of Marxism-Leninism” tried to convince readers that the PPP post Jagan continued to practice the principles Marxism Leninism.  What principles? Marxism Leninism?  He has got to be joking. When was the last time he or anybody in the party wrote or spoke of those principles?  Now that he mentioned them I would be glad if he could write something explaining these principles and how the Jagdeo Government practiced them.
Did the PPP government privatize as much as possible? Did they sell out state resources to friends at prices way below value. Did they give away the patrimony to foreign companies in sell out deals? Explain Baishanlin, Ramroop and Sanata Textile Mill.  How about prime lands near the University which were sold at rock bottom prices to friends of President Jagdeo? Are these all part of the Marxist principles?
Now let’s see how the PPP practised neoliberal policies. It placed its faith in the private sector and the private sector did not deliver. Recognizing that the private sector did not deliver, did the Leninist principle not encourage the government to invest in processing plants to process the farmers’ produce and so diversify the economy by creating value added.
Why did this Marxist government during the 23 years, not carry out the expansion of Black Bush Polder so that farmers could get land?  Why did it not develop the second phase of the MMA scheme? Mara was abandoned because the government let the road fall into disrepair. Look at the condition of Black Bush Polder after 23 years of PPP rule. These areas would have benefitted its supporters so you can imagine how it treated those who were not its supporters. If the Private sector did not invest in Region 10 among others was it not incumbent on the Marxist government to invest to create jobs.
The reality is that the PPP government, the post Jagan one, directed its energies to the enrichment of the leaders. One can only look at the accumulation of wealth by the PPP leaders. The Principle “lean and clean” was thrown through the window. The working people and the farmers were neglected. The unemployment among youths was very high. Migration continued to be high and the sad reality which I am sure Hydar Ali would admit to, is that Guyana remained a remittance country and had it not been for the high level of remittance from family overseas our people would have had it very hard.
There are those PPPites who attack me on social media saying I was corrupt and that I stole money during the flood time and as a consequence was fired. First it was 5 then 10 then 15 Million. The reality is that the flood was in 2005 and my contract at Office of the President was signed in March 2006.  Basic chronological logics defied them. There are a number of issues I will write about later explaining why I got into loggerheads with Jagdeo; one is his blocking of a 300 million dollar modern cargo facility at CJIA which would have benefitted farmers and would have been transformative re: the agri. sector.
I will just say at this point in time that I was invited by my friend Michael Carrington to be on an Alliance For Change programme that dealt with taxation. We were advocating for allowance to be given to children for we thought the present tax regime was unfair to the workers who were parents. I was asked about and I criticized the corruption that existed and if you doubt the corruption Donald Ramotar is on record during the 2011 election campaign as saying the corruption was deep rooted and that he would root it out.
There are those who say I am not writing against the ills of this government. Well for one; those asking me that question were silent under the previous government. The reality was that I spoke out internally for years and was marginalized. I do recognize that this government has done some wrong things. I am critical internally and I am giving it time as I have done with the PPP. Those who know me know that I have not given up my left leaning ideology and I have written on it in the not too distant past and on social media. I will end at this stage but would consider continuing my writings for this country cannot advance in any real way once our people remain divided. I have always stated this; race is not a homogenous unit. Each race group has varying interests.  The working people are unfortunately misguided and are kept divided by race. The only way the working people would advance and the body politics of this country transformed is if and when the working people place their interest as workers before the colour of their skin. The six weeks strike when bauxite and sugar workers were united in struggle is a prime example of what can be achieved when our people are united in their common interest.
Rajendra Bisessar

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