A comparison of Ramotar and Granger’s Presidency

Mar 29, 2021 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Kaieteur News – Guyana has had nine executive presidents. For this discussion we will exclude the current leader, Dr. Irfaan Ali. He is just a mere seven months in the job. Sam Hinds was basically a caretaker boss who held the fort for six months after Dr. Cheddi Jagan died until the next general election. Mrs. Jagan served a mere 20 months in the presidency – the entire 1998, three weeks in 1997, seven months in 1999.
If one is going to compare presidents then the analysis has to exclude Donald Ramotar and David Granger. Not only in Guyana but in the English-speaking West Indies, both of these heads of state and government were extremely lackluster, mediocre and definitely of poor quality.
To compare Granger with Forbes Burnham, Desmond Hoyte, Cheddi Jagan and Bharrat Jagdeo will be an exercise in academic misdirection. He doesn’t come within millions of miles of catching up with the leadership qualities of these four presidents. To compare Ramotar with Burnham, Hoyte, Jagan and Jagdeo opens up the analyst to extreme ridicule from scholars both inside and outside of Guyana.
The question to my mind in Guyanese scholarship is which of the two men – Granger and Ramotar – was the better leader? This country is riveted with racial lava. An Indian academic that puts Granger at the bottom of the nine presidents, will be accused of applying racial bias. If a Black scholar sees Granger as a better leader than Ramotar, accusation of ethnic preferences will come into play.
In the end, the analyst just has to do his/her work. This is what I am prepared to do here. If you bother with what people say about you in Guyana, you will end up a psychotic person. Ramotar far outstrips Granger in almost every area in leadership departments.
Let’s do the classification. Ramotar had over 40 years of political experience when he became president. His political credentials, Granger could not match. He was a shop steward for GAWU when he was in his early 20s. He spent eight years in Czechoslovakia as the PPP’s representative. He took over the leadership of the PPP during the presidencies of Janet Jagan, Sam Hinds and Bharrat Jagdeo. That position he held for 13 years.
In contrast, Granger’s only exposure in the trenches lasted from 2011 to 2015 when he became president. Long exposure in the trenches moulds you to be a seasoned fighter. It brings immense value to your politics. The priceless value a protracted presence in political activism brings, is self-confidence.
Granger had not an ounce of self-confidence. That was his untergang. What Granger did was that he lived with his fear of lack of self-confidence rather than fighting to defeat it. It explains his mortal fear of the media. It is unheard of in the modern world, that a president in office for five years would only host two press conferences.
The most disturbing manifestation of Granger’s pathetic lack of self-assertion was when he called the country’s diplomatic community to inform them that based on his understanding of the CCJ’s ruling on the appointment of a GECOM chairman, he, as President, could select his own list. Looking at Granger’s countenance, he was in extreme discomfort. He just wanted it to be over with. This was the most abrupt ending of a meeting between a head of state and the diplomatic community in any country in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Ramotar and Granger were opposites in terms of relationship with the masses. Ramotar, because of his deep evolution within the working class, was a people’s president. He could charm you with promises. He had a likeable personality. Granger was essentially a middle class leader. His class background was the opposite of Ramotar’s, and that crucial difference made Ramotar an inviting president.
One of the most colossal differences with Granger and all the presidents of Guyana including the new boy – Irfaan Alli – was that he showed absolutely no inclination to present a visage of lightness, modesty and humility with the Guyanese people. Hoyte was very stiff and arrogant at times but he was not distant. Granger was. Ramotar was your typical West Indian leader. Granger was not.
Both presidents came across as if they were not in control thus the masses were hardly impressed with them. But the difference with Ramotar and Granger was that Ramotar was open to be guided by formidable talent – Jagdeo, Ashni Singh, Gail Teixeira, Anil Nandlall, etc. Granger did not have such talent and was contemptuous of experienced politicians like Drs. Rupert Roopnaraine and Clive Thomas. He was equally contemptuous of the AFC contingent in the Cabinet. Simply put, Granger was not the person to be president of a complex country like Guyana.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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