Popular polls bid fails
Jagdeo tops list at vote By Daniel DaCosta
Stabroek News
July 22, 2002

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A resolution seeking to introduce direct election of the top officers of the party and the removal of any reference to Marxism/Leninism and Socialism from the party’s constitution was thrown out yesterday, the second and final day of the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) 27th Congress at the J.C. Chandisingh Secondary School at Port Mourant on the Corentyne.

Access to the Congress Hall was denied the private media and senior party officials remained tightlipped on the much talked about proposal.

The proposal according to one delegate was tabled by Khemraj Ramjattan of the Campbellville Group, an attorney-at-law and a member of the party’s Central Committee. It should have been debated on Saturday but was deferred to yesterday. After around 90 minutes of arguments, the proposal was unanimously rejected while at least two other proposed resolutions were withdrawn in the wake of that rejection. According to the delegate the resolution generated intense discussions. Stabroek News understands that just a handful of delegates from the Campbellville area supported the resolution. The majority of the delegates rejected it.

The resolution had called for the posts of party leader, chairman and general secretary to be contested at the congress. At the moment the party has no leader or chairman and Donald Ramotar serves as its general secretary. The general secretary and the presidential candidate are currently decided by the Central Committee. Some delegates argued that having the three positions as existed in the 1960s would result in too much competition to the detriment of the party. Delegates argued that the Campbellville proposal would `Balkanise’ the party through the apportioning of regional blocks on the Central Committee. Delegates say that Ramjattan was not given an opportunity to rebut even though lengthy arguments were allowed from those opposed to it. Chief among the critics were several longstanding party members. President Bharrat Jagdeo also spoke against the Campbellville proposal.

Asked at the opening session by Stabroek News whether he will be contesting the leadership of the party, former Information Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, now a qualified lawyer said, “I have been identified to contest as a member of the collective leadership.” Yesterday morning thirty-five members of the Central Committee were elected.

The Campbellville resolution had sought a mandate that nine of the 35 seats should be dedicated to residents of Berbice and seven for Essequibians because these areas account largely for the party’s victory at the polls.

Referring to the question of the party’s ideology in his opening address, President Jagdeo said democracy is strong and well in the party. “No one will be muzzled you will be free to express your thinking... that has been a tradition of our party and we will maintain it... that is the essence of the party. We must remain committed to the original ideal of the party... a better life for every Guyanese.”

Jagdeo also reminded the congress of the achievements of the party since 1992 saying they must be highlighted and told to the young people of the country. “Since this party took office, inspite of the most difficult environment, inspite of the international environment being harsh, inspite of constant aggression by the PNC/R, inspite of their attempts to sabotage progress, our party has made significant, signal achievements and you must be proud of that because you have contributed to that also” he said to loud applause.

Touching on the question of power sharing he said he has not seen any example where it works at the level of the cabinet but explained that he was “open to it.” Referring to shared governance he said “the new constitution speaks about shared governance but the shared governance that is meant by the new constitution is enshrined in the changes that were made. These changes are the establishment of five or six commissions and four sectoral committees. We have expanded the Service Commissions to have a parliamentary input and we have limited the powers of the President... that’s what we mean by shared governance in the constitutional sense.” He continued by saying this position should not be misinterpreted. “My position is that is the concept of shared governance that we have subscribed to until this point in time and if that is to change you the delegates and members of the party will have to decide”, he declared.

Touching on the present situation, Jagdeo said there is the mobilisation of some criminal elements and young people by opposition forces. “When you have a philosophy of violence and terror as a means of winning power added to criminal activities... it is a lethal combination. Many speculate that the aim is that since many Indo-Guyanese are targets of the ongoing violence, they hope that they will have a mass migration out of the country and this will enhance their pre-electoral prospects. Others”, he said, “speculate that is could be ploy to destroy the economy and I believe it is a combination of both. This congress must explore strategies and solutions on how we are going to deal with these issues as a party but we must reject violence as a means of solving problems.”

On the party’s ideology, he said “many people are concerned about our ideology. They say Marxist/ Leninist, whether we are socialist, whether we are something else and they are trying to create divisions within the party because of this... these outside forces, but we remain strong and united here. It has been clearly put, if you check our Central Committee reports you will see this. From the beginning of the PPP we said we are a party... we want to build a better life for people of all races, we are firmly on the side of the working people of this country.

This doesn’t mean we are opposed to any other group but where poor people are, the party has work to do. We want to build a multicultural society, fight poverty and be in solidarity with workers across the world. These are things that have always guided us.” He then referred to a statement made by the late Dr Cheddi Jagan on the subject at the party’s 25th congress. “We are trying to build a state where everyone has a place and do not get side-tracked by those people outside of the party who have other kinds of motives trying to create confusion in our ranks.”

The Campbellville Group had called for the terms Socialist/Socialism, Marxism/Leninism and democratic centralism to be removed from the party’s constitution and replaced with the terms “national democratic”, “constitutional and national democratic principles” and “transparency, accountability, equality and the rule of law” respectively.

Ramjattan and members of the group were not available for comment yesterday at Port Mourant as the plenary sessions concluded. The closing remarks were delivered yesterday afternoon by Clement Rohee who headed the Congress’ organising committee.