The PPP has to address the root causes of its problems

Jun 27, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – After his election loss in 1968, Cheddi Jagan was shunned by many sections of the population. In the context of the Cold War and the PNC’s determination to rig its way to electoral victory, the opportunistic sections of society saw little chance of the PPP regaining the reins of political power, and as such drifted away from the party.

It was not a case whereby Cheddi’s leftwing beliefs or the PPPC’s working class orientation repelled support. The PPPC still attracted ethnic working class and business class support. However, the opportunistic elements of the business, professional and middle classes, from whence political leadership tends to be drawn, did not wish to be publicly identified with Cheddi or the PPP.

At election time, the business class still handed the party hefty donations but they consorted with Burnham and also handed the PNC donations – but in smaller amounts. The professional and intellectual class stayed away from the PPP as if it was a leper. After a while Cheddi struggled to attract middle class and professionals to the PPPC. This is how his party became saddled with many individuals who were not equipped, intellectually and otherwise, for leadership.

When the PPP won the elections in 1992, Cheddi was obligated to dole out ministerial positions to persons who had long served his party. That happens in all political parties; cadres and loyalists have to be rewarded; it is in the nature of politics of post-colonial societies. Some of the party loyalists were efficient but most were downright incompetent. They did not have what was required to assume high office. The PPP also linked up with the nebulous outfit called the CIVIC to contest the 1992 elections, thereby attracting persons from different strata of society. The problem here was that that many of them had no constituency and quite a few were political opportunists.

Before the 1992 elections, the bourgeois class had a sense that the PPP would win and so they began to court Cheddi and his party. A number of members of this class began to develop a close relationship with the PPPC with the aim of protecting their interests. When the PPPC did win the elections of the 1992, there was massive swing by the opportunistic classes and individuals towards the PPPC. A great many persons who previously wanted nothing to do with Cheddi and the PPPC began to ingratiate themselves with the leadership and especially with certain ministers. And quite a few of the ministers became smitten by the adulation and attention showered upon them.

Because the PPPC leadership was weak from years of not attracting sufficient numbers of capable and competent persons, many of those who assumed positions of authority were vulnerable to the enticements of the bourgeois class. And many were morally-challenged.  As a consequence the PPPC soon became entangled in a number of controversies. The then PNC opposition placed labels on some of these controversies: stone scam, the gold scam, milk scam, car scam – in relation to a Minister’s son purchasing a car from a businessman who undertook contracts for the said Minister’s Ministry. These indiscretions spoke to the quality of persons which the PPP attracted and were associated with.

The problems which the PPPC faces today are rooted in the quality of persons the party continues to attract and associates with. There are far too many opportunists within the party or who are linked to the party and its leaders. Unless this situation is arrested, it is only a matter of time before the controversies mount up. When the party does not have sufficient persons of mettle and integrity, it will end up scraping the bottom of the barrel in order to muster sufficient numbers to fill important positions. If you look at some of the persons who the PPPC attracts and who enjoy political and other top appointments, many of them are not quality material. They cannot handle the responsibilities of high office. As a result, governance suffers. To compound matters, the opportunistic elements of the bourgeois class continue to peddle their influence and are creaming off the wealth of the country. Some people only look at the oil companies but do not realise how the massive income disparities that is taking place in the local economy and which is aided and abetted by the neo-liberal agenda being pursued by the PPPC.

The problems which the PPPC face today are a direct result of its failure to address the historical problem of insufficient numbers of quality individuals – persons with integrity and competence. And even when the PPP does manage to attract and appoint quality persons, those persons find themselves stifled by the practice of one-man leadership. No wonder the PPPC is today besieged by controversies. And unfortunately, unless the roots causes of this malaise are addressed, things will not get better.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

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• 1968, causes, Cheddi Jagan, Peeping Tom, problems

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