Latest update March 24th, 2025 7:05 AM
Congress must remain the PPP’s highest decision maker
Dear Editor,
As a longstanding member of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) who has attended the party’s congress before, I am of the distinct opinion that Congress should be the highest decision maker of the PPP and not the central committee.
The recent decision made by the central committee that shocked most of Guyana, documents what most of us already know; the party leadership remains out of touch with the realities and the views of its members.
Mr. Editor, there has never been a Congress where the PPP presidential candidate, Mr. Irfaan Ali, received more votes than the other two main contestants, Mr. Anil Nandlall and Mr. Frank Anthony. This is an accurate reflection of how the party supporters feel. The latter two gentlemen have consistently ranked in the top 5 while Mr. Ali’s only top 10 ranking came in the last Congress where he was eighth, a far cry away from his competitors.
It is the view of many others and I in the party that Mr. Ali’s selection was not based on popularity and/or merit but due to his close relationship with Mr. Jagdeo. It is baffling and equally bemusing how the central committee allotted Mr. Ali 24 of the 35 votes.
Party middle and lower-ranking leaders are hard pressed to explain this outcome to the grassroots supporters, who are not oblivious to the internal party dynamics.
Furthermore, this was against the backdrop of Mr. Ali’s degree scandal, which took a perpetual nosedive. How can 24/35 explain their vote after such dark clouds hung over Mr. Ali? If this was not bad enough, shortly after, Mr. Ali was asked not to travel to Canada due to 19 impending charges for fraud by SOCU.
It is quite easy to dismiss the abovementioned charges as political witch-hunting; however, Mr. Anil Nandlall was dubiously charged with the law books fiasco and he was never prevented from travelling once. Surely, the Canadian government doesn’t comprise idiots. All of this was after Mr. Ali was seen as synonymous with corruption, victimization, and arrogance.
Mr. Ali and a few of his colleagues on the Jagdeo cabinet were seen as the reason for the PPP decline as corruption became characteristic of the PPP from 2008-2011.
More fundamentally, this is a deviation of the Jagan-esque and PPP traditional leadership selection methodology where party leaders were generally of a strong PPP background, live a modest life and were humble beings. Mr. Ali meets none of those qualifications or any of the academic ones he boasts.
Many others and I are of the view that the vote was extremely tainted and engineered by Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo. Of the 35 Central Committee members, seventeen, which is almost half, are direct employees of the PPP and report directly to Mr. Jagdeo in his capacity as General Secretary. It is generally believed that Mr. Ali is the only one of the three ‘serious’ contestants who could have been easily controlled by puppeteers.
The events that led to the selection (not election) of Mr. Ali demonstrate one thing in the most vivid possible manner. The current selection dynamics and PPP constitutions have failed not only the PPP but the nation in general.
I, like many others, am desperate to see a constitutional revamp at the soonest possible date.
Gavin Seecharran.
Former PPP supporter.
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