Party group wants more democracy in picking PPP leaders
Urges removal of marxism reference
Stabroek News
July 15, 2002
Khemraj Ramjattan, Central Committee (CC) member of the PPP is leading a call for the democratisation of that party and support for a host of proposals to achieve this is being lobbied ahead of this weekend's PPP Congress.
A senior party official told Stabroek News last week that the group led by Ramjattan was asked to withdraw the proposals, which include a call to remove any mention of Marxism/Leninism and Socialism from the party's constitution, but the group has refused to do so.
Ramjattan could not be contacted for comment up to press time yesterday and efforts to contact General Secretary of the party, Donald Ramotar were also unsuccessful.
Among the proposals by the group (Section K Campbellville) is for the party to have a leader and a chairman as well as a general secretary, each of who should be elected by popular vote at Congress.
As it stands, the party does not have a party leader or a chairman and only has the position of General Secretary. The General Secretary is decided through an election by the party's Central Committee.
The party insider said the proposal is for the party leader's position to automatically go to the President in keeping with the universal practice. The source said the argument is that when national elections are due, this position is to be vied for at a Congress by candidates showing an interest in running as the party's presidential candidate unless no other contestant wishes to compete against the existing incumbent candidate.
Another party official said if this proposal is implemented, it would allow for a democratic election of the party's presidential candidate.
"The elitist practice of a selection of the presidential candidate by a few leaders, rather than the larger party membership, of such an important position is an outmoded, undemocratic mechanism. Long gone are the days when the rank and file membership must simply be informed of the decision; rather they should be consulted and be part of the process in deciding this issue," this official said.
The Chairman, on the other hand, the proposal moots, will chair all of the party's Executive Committee, Central Committee and other important meetings, while the General Secretary would serve as the chief executive officer of the party. These two office holders, the proposal says, must be elected at Congress.
On the issue of who should be on the Executive Committee, the PPP/C insider said the proposal is for the party leader, the chairman and the general secretary to be members as well as the12 persons securing the highest number of votes at Congress. As it stands, voting at Congress is for the 35 elected Central Committee members who, after their first meeting, would vote in 15 persons to sit as the Executive of the party. This means that the most popular vote-getters do not necessarily form part of the party's Executive as happened after the last Congress when Moses Nagamootoo carted off the second highest number of votes but failed to secure a seat in the Executive.
The other proposal is to have the terms "Socialist/Socialism, Marxism/Leninism and democratic centralism" removed from the party's constitution and be replaced with the terms "national democratic", "constitutional and national democratic principles" and "transparency, accountability, equality and the rule of law" respectively.
Additionally, the proposal is also seeking to alter the composition of the party's Central Committee by allowing for meaningful geographic representation.
One source said what Ramjattan's group is proposing here is that the system of election for Central Committee members be altered so that the dominance by party leaders who reside in the city and its surroundings ceases.
This proposal seeks to mandate that nine of the 35 seats for the central committee be dedicated to residents of Berbice and seven for Essequibians, as these counties account largely for the party's victory at the polls.
Additionally, the proposal seeks to institutionalise gender representation by having a third of the Central Committee list of nominees be women.
This proposal to alter the geographic composition of the party is not expected to go down well with the existing Central Committee and Executive members as it would mean that many of them would be left out of the picture as their votes at the party's congress may not be sufficient to secure the remaining seats at CC.
Stabroek News was further told that the proposal also seeks to introduce the concept of accountability within the party; that is, for there to be a ready flow of information from the Central Committee to the various party groups on decisions taken, what CC members are doing and how they are performing so that rank and file members will know who are the good leaders and who are the non-performers. There is also a call for annual financial statements, to be audited by a recognised auditor, which must be sent to all party groups. Questions have been raised about how much money is coming into the party's coffers and how it is being spent.
Sources say it is very unlikely that these far-reaching proposals would be given the kind of consideration its proponents expect. However, given the feeling of discontent within the rank and file of the party in the current circumstances facing the country, the proposal is not expected to be simply brushed aside. These proposals will become operational only at the next Congress in 2005 if they are accepted at this weekend's Congress.
Stabroek News has not been able to ascertain what sort of support has been garnered to push the proposals forward. This paper had hoped to do so by eliciting comments from Ramjattan and other senior members of the party including Ramotar.
The PPP Congress is being held this weekend at Port Mourant.