Ramkarran Deserves the Presidency

Oct 08, 2019 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

Reference is made to “Ralphie get he plaything at last” (KN Oct 6). Finally, Mr. Ramkarran has been anointed the Presidential nomination of a political party. It is long overdue and deserving. He is the star attraction of ANUG; people who are attracted to the party are voting Ralphie, not ANUG. And you are right unlike other run of the mill politicians, he is at least honest.
Ramkarran is likeable and respected around the country. He is the only political figure held in high esteem by virtually every so called floating voter and by the elite of society. Had Ramkarran been chosen as the nominee of the PPP in 1997, 2011, and 2015, the party would have won a landslide victory and the nation avoided many of the problems that have overwhelmed the country. Corruption and racism would have been largely curtailed if not altogether absent under a Ramkarran Presidency. The PPP would have remained in power. And had he been chosen as the consensus candidate for the coalition in 2015, it would have won a comfortable majority (without controversy of fraud and recounting of votes) and the country would have been all the better with none of the controversies (on constitutional violations) that have dominated the news since 2016. If he were to be chosen as the nominee in March 2020 of an opposition coalition, it would win a landslide victory; there would be no regrets on March 3.
I speak as someone who has the good fortune of seeing polling data and who has interacted with diplomats and the elite of the society (business persons, intellectuals, scholars, academics, professionals, university students, and the “Who Is Who”). Ramkarran will not win the Presidency for ANUG, but if either one of the major parties wishes to clinch a guaranteed victory, Ramkaran is the man who will take them way past the finishing line. At least that is what the polls show now; opinion can change over the next five months.
Ramkarran was given a raw deal in the PPP, the party he and his father (Boysee) helped to build; Boysee was not a man of Letters but he was perhaps the sharpest and wittiest debater in parliament and a man of the people. Ironically, Boysee was also treated badly within the PPP denied of his rightful position after Cheddi Jagan similar to how Balram Singh Rai was shunted aside. His son, Ralph was “literally thrown out” (forced to resign around 2012) after abusive language was hurled at him by those who played virtually no role in building the PPP. He was by-passed in 1997 in favour of Janet Jagan and a young Bharrat Jagdeo on the A Team. And he was by-passed again in 2011 in an engineered selection of the Presidential nominee that would prove fatal to the PPP. This would lead to division and the defeat of the PPP and its ouster from office, (perhaps forever, many feel).
In 2010 and 2011, I conducted opinion surveys (published in Stabroek News and elsewhere) showing Ramkaran and Moses Nagamootoo as the most popular political figures in the PPP and who would take the party to a landslide victory. The polls showed Donald Ramotar as the least popular and if selected as nominee, the PPP would face an uphill task to retain office. The polls showed that aside from Moses and Ralph, the party would also win if Robert Persaud, Frank Anthony, Priya Manikchand or Navin Chanderpaul were the nominee. (Robert Persaud is perhaps among the most unpopular and disliked figures today – how fast a person can lose his shine). The PPP engineered the nomination of Ramotar in 2011 knowing fully well it was too risky and it could lose power. Nagamootoo left and joined AFC. The PPP lost its majority in parliament in the late November elections; the PPP claimed that one polling division with several thousand votes on the West Coast, its stronghold, was not counted and would have given it a majority. Ramkarran agreed to become AG to Ramotar and was set to be sworn in but for some inexplicable reason he was shunted aside. Not long after, there was a nasty attack on Ramkarran by Gail Teixeira; there was deafening silence from Ramotar who did not see it necessary to reprimand Gail. Ramkarran resigned. Jagdeo, who was overseas when it all happened, was critical of how the party handled the Ramkarran matter urging him not to leave.
In polls conducted from 2012 to 2015, voters urged the return of Ramkarran and Nagamootoo to PPP. Polls showed that if either one was to get the nomination of PPP in 2015, the party would win. Ramotar was struggling to win a majority; not gaining cross over traction. No effort was made by party leadership to bring back the two erstwhile towering figures. A poll also showed that Ramkarran as Prime Ministerial nomination to a Ramotar Presidential candidacy would also take PPP to victory. Ramkarran had crossover appeal. The PPP gambled again with Ramotar and without Ramkarran and lost. (PPP claimed it was cheated in Region 8 and by fake statements of poll. Did the US Charge derail a recount that would have re-elected Ramotar?)
On the 2015 elections, sources told me when there was a deadlock during negotiations between APNU and AFC on the Presidential nominee. Ramkarran was on the verge of becoming the consensus candidate. Sources told me that Moses scuttled Ralph’s nomination by convincing AFC colleagues to accept the PM position for himself. Ramkarran was cheated of the Presidency twice. The rest is history and the resulting problems that plague the nation. Some say the PPP has not learned lessons of the past in the way it selects its nominee.
Ramkarran is well respected around the nation by all ethnic groups. He lacks charm and does not possess the charisma of a Jagdeo or Nagamootoo. But he is a likeable figure. People see him as a man of integrity and decency who is not intoxicated with power. He is not someone who seeks vengeance or out to victimize opponents or critics. He is the only Presidential candidate who has political support among the two major ethnic groups and Mixed race voters. He is held in high regards. He could very well transform the politics of Guyana with his advocacy of power sharing. But this can only happen if elected with enough balance of power seats. Surveys I recently conducted in July and August showed him (voters are supporting Ramkarran, not ANUG) winning seats but the election is almost six months away and support could change.

Yours truly,
Dr. Vishnu Bisram

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