Frank Anthony, Nagamootoo not elected
The PPP Central Committee has elected its 15-member Executive Committee and General Secretary Donald Ramotar was re-elected unopposed when the recently elected Central Committee held its first meeting yesterday.

Those elected to the Executive Committee from the 35-member Central Committee are Ali Baksh, Komal Chand, Navin Chandarpal, Clinton Collymore, Janet Jagan, Bharrat Jagdeo, Roger Luncheon, Zulfikar Mustapha, Harripersaud Nokta, Reepu Daman Persaud, Robert Persaud, Ulric Ramanah, Ralph Ramkarran, Clement Rohee and Gail Teixeira, a release from the People’s Progressive Party said yesterday.

Dr Frank Anthony who received the third highest number of votes at the election for the Central Committee members and Moses Nagamootoo who received the fifth highest votes for the party’s biennial congress which was held on August 2, 2008 were not elected to the Executive Committee.
Three members elected as Candidate Members also known as non-voting members of the Executive Committee are Irfan Ali, Ganga Persaud and Pauline Sukhai.

An editorial board was elected and Mrs Jagan was elected as editor of the party’s organ, Thunder. The board members are Ramotar, Ramkarran, Nagamootoo, Lawrence Rodney, Navin Chandarpal, Hydar Ally, Kellawan Lall, Irfan Ali, Collymore and Rohee.
The secretaries of the party elected are Ramanah, organizing; Hydar Ally, education; Robert Persaud, mass organization; Collymore, public relations; Dr Anthony, culture and youth; Irfan Ali, finance; Indra Chandarpal, women’s affairs; Dharamkumar Seeraj, international affairs; Chand, trade union relations; and Teixeira, governance issues.

The Control’s Commission comprises Navin Chandarpal, Chand and Collymore.
These bodies, according to the release, will guide the work of the party until the 30th congress due in another three years.
Meanwhile asked about reports of a conflict of interest considering that Dr Anthony was a candidate and secured the third highest number of votes at the Congress, while he was also in charge of the credentials of the delegates who were eligible to vote, Ramotar told this newspaper that Dr Anthony heading the credentials committee had “absolutely nothing to do with the conduct of the elections.”

He said that the committee’s job was to see that all delegates were accredited and those who were nominated by the party groups were eligible to be elected to the Central Committee. “It is a total misconception and misrepresentation of the facts and it was very unfair to Dr Anthony who did an excellent job for the press to be treating him like this.”

There was no conflict of interest in his duties because he worked with a committee and was in no way associated with the conduct of the elections, Ramotar said.