Ramson, like Ramkarran, will not be given the nomination on a platter

Jul 07, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,
Let this letter be considered a rejoinder to the letter from Edwin Foo II writing from Tokyo, Japan (KN July 5th) vouching for the reputation, maturity and suitability of Charles Ramson Jr. to run for the presidency in Guyana.
“Democratic Centralism” is an anachronism in the current era. It is a system intended to prevent the party membership from having a voice in electing their leader. First, Mr. Ramson and other like-minded folks have to work to abolish that system. How do you do that? Go to the villages throughout the country and engage the party membership – ask them to issue press releases, write letters to the press demanding a vote by the entire membership. If there is an open rebellion against the Jagdeo-controlled central executive, things will change. Politics is hard work. If Charles Ramson is not prepared to do the hard work, then he doesn’t have what it takes to be president.
He will certainly not be handed the party’s nomination on a platter.
We already had an intense national conversation on this matter in 2010. Then Speaker Ralph Ramkarran expressed a desire for the nomination, but he refuses to get out of his ivory tower in Georgetown to visit the party branches in the rural villages of the country – and ask for their support to change the way the party “selects” its leader.
This thing about not letting the whole body of party members (approximately 1200) vote to elect a new leader is a very serious matter. It raises serious questions about the lack of internal party democracy. And, if that is how you run your party, so you will do to the whole country if you win elections.
You also have to ask: What kind of moribund membership this party has? Are they so cowed and frightened of their Soviet-style leader to wake up and demand their right to vote to elect the party’s new presidential candidate? Is this not a universal right in functioning democracies?

Mike Persaud

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