Ramkarran’s new party suffers first resignation

Jan 08, 2019 News

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It has not yet been launched, but a new political party co-founded by former House Speaker, Ralph Ramkarran, has to deal with the resignation of prominent city businessman, Terrence Campbell.
Campbell, who is known for being the local franchise holder of Church’s Chicken, Mario’s Pizza, Pollo Tropical and Fedex, was blunt in noting yesterday that the country has become more polarized in the last two-plus weeks since the shocking December 21st no-confidence vote which saw the government toppled after one of their own, Charrandass Persaud, backed the Opposition.
Days after the vote, it was announced that A New and United Guyana (ANUG) will be launching soon.
Leading the party, which said it is pushing inclusive governance, were Ramkarran, a former executive of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP); Campbell; attorney-at-law, Timothy Jonas; and former government minister under the PPP, Dr. Henry Jeffrey.
However, yesterday, in a Facebook post, Campbell hinted that his decision to resign may have been propelled by a call in some quarters to boycott his business.
Campbell also cited his unhappiness over the dual citizenship of a number of parliamentarians.
Below is his Facebook statement:

“Today a knife was stuck into my back by my own people. I have supported the PNC/APNU/APNU-AFC in every general election since I started voting. Carl Greenidge, Raphael Trotman, Cathy Hughes, Rupert Roopnarine and Lance Carberry can attest to this. This support ran into millions of dollars. I served this Coalition as Chairman at GNPL and turned that organization from losses to profit.
As a businessman, I donate over G$1M per month to charitable causes. After a sordid incident between an Afro-Guyanese businessman and boys at a Georgetown school, I took over a feeding programme there almost a decade ago. I have also supported the Step By Step School for autistic children with monthly contributions for years. I have never publicized this as the God, the powerful God that I serve, knows this.
To my mind, the Coalition doesn’t stand a chance in a head to head with the PPP at this time. My entry into politics was purely to deny the PPP a majority and to push for constitutional reform. However, over the last week the polarization in Guyana made me realize that now isn’t the time for the kind of healing, centrist politics I envisaged. This was a point that I shared with a few friends. Consequently, I resigned from RISE Guyana last Thursday and early this am (morning), I sent the following edited message to my friends at ANUG
Gentlemen,
Forgive my insensitivity of opening this email on a secular matter with two Christian references. Ecclesiastes 3 teaches us that:
“For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
2 A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
In the Parable of the Sower found in Matthew 13, Jesus recommends that we sow on good soil and not on rock or amongst thorns.
The vote Charrandass Persaud in the NCV has polarized Guyana. On the one hand, supporters of the Coalition believe the government has been felled by a corrupt bloodless coup totally in sync with their view of the PPP under its current leadership. On the other hand, PPP supporters see the Coalition’s refusal to resign as a reminder of the vote-rigging unlawful nature of the PNC. Then there are independent observers who believe the Coalition should resign based on convention but fail to recognize that there is no precedent for a similar vote by an Assembly made up of 40% disqualified members. The NCV has poisoned our soil.
The polarization is enough of a deterrent for any aspiring politician but there is more. For a new ‘independent’ party to be successful in this scenario, I believe it would need to compete under an umbrella with groups that broadly share its philosophical approach, since time is short and resources are limited. It has also been suggested by one observer that ANAUG steering committee probably has three dual citizens. In fact this issue was raised with an ANAUG sympathizer yesterday. It is no secret that this is a matter of significant importance to me. I view the dual citizens in the Assembly as a flagrant violation of our Constitution.
All of the above has caused me considerable angst and I fail to see how I would be able to add value to the efforts of ANAUG in the days ahead. A good reading of the climate suggests that this is neither the time nor the place for me to sow my seeds.
Regards
Terrence
….
ANUG RESPONDS
Meanwhile ANUG, in a statement sent by Ralph Ramkarran, had this to say:
A New and United Guyana (ANUG) has noted a statement publicized by the media indicating that Mr. Terrence Campbell has withdrawn from ANUG. An email on the morning of January 7 by Terrence indicated that he did not feel that he could add value to our efforts in the days ahead. His reason appeared to be the charged political situation arising from the no confidence motion passed by the National Assembly against the Government on December 21.
As an aside, he alleged that three members of the Steering Committee had dual citizenship.
….It is clear that Terrence has come under severe pressure because of his leading role in establishing ANUG. Some of us have also come under pressure from official sources very recently, as a consequence of association with ANUG, and in the past. We have endured and survived and expect to continue to do so in the future. We intend to build our movement to offer the Guyanese people an entirely different and creative political choice that will lead to a new and united Guyana.
There are only three others of us on the Steering Committee, namely, Henry Jeffrey, Timothy Jonas and Ralph Ramkarran. Terrence is therefore accusing all of us of being dual citizens. We will not dignify this worthless accusation, based on hearsay evidence, with a response. But we want to emphasize that being a dual citizen is not a crime. There are thousands of dual citizens living and working in Guyana and some of them are our supporters. We welcome them.
This issue of dual citizens as members of the National Assembly came up for discussion at our meeting on Friday last, which was not attended by Terrence. We confirmed that the rule prohibiting dual citizens from membership of the National Assembly is an anachronism, is not enforced by our political parties and we would advocate its abolition. But we also acknowledged that in the meantime we will observe the law and will not include any dual citizens on our list of candidates, as the three political parties represented in the National Assembly have always done.
We wish Terrence well.
A New and United Guyana.

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