Dear Editor,
I read with great care and interest Mr Ralph Ramkarran’s letter which was published in Kaieteur News on Friday June 19, 2009, under the caption, ‘David Hinds and history.’ Mr Ramkarran raised a number of issues in his letter that should not stand unchallenged. I suspect that both David Hinds and Eusi Kwayana will address some of those issues. My concern in this letter is with one of the issues Mr Ramkarran addressed.
In his letter he accused Hinds of deception in his interpretation of Guyanese political history. For the benefit of the public I wish to state here and now that he is guilty of committing the same crime which he attempted to accuse Hinds of.
Mr Ramkarran, in an effort at painting a rosy picture of the PPP, claimed that after the PCD talks broke down, the PPP had proposed to the WPA a PPP/WPA alliance to contest the 1992 election. This is either a fiction of his imagination or a deliberate attempt on his part to deceive the populace at large. As one of the representatives of the WPA at the PCD discussions I challenge Mr Ramkarran or any of the other persons who participated in those discussions to prove me wrong. It never happened. In his attempt to embellish the image of his party Ramkarran wrote, “The PPP then decided to file its own candidate and list. Notwithstanding the PPP invited Professor Clive Thomas to be Cheddi Jagan’s running mate…” To be generous to Mr Ramkarran he seems to have got his timelines mixed up or was misled by his comrades who dealt with the PCD discussions. Because he was not involved in those discussions he was and is not in a position to speak with any degree of certainty on what took place.
I wish to point out for the benefit of both Mr Ramkarran and the public what actually took place. The Jagan/Thomas ticket was first raised in the PCD deliberations before the talks deadlocked and during the period of trying to break the deadlock. After the talks collapsed the PPP then moved to Mr Sam Hinds and the Civic elements. The rest is history. It is public knowledge that after the PPP/C victory Dr Jagan made an offer to Dr Clive Thomas to join his government.
I hope that Mr Ralph Ramkarran who is a contender to be his party‘s presidential candidate in the 2011 elections will demonstrate political maturity by publicly correcting his falsification of an important development in this country’s political history. His failure to do so when added to his position that the PPP did not contribute to the negative racial relations and politics in the country could only be interpreted to mean that he is no different from his comrades in Freedom House. This will be bad for the country’s future.
Yours faithfully,
Tacuma Ogunseye
Mr Tacuma Ogunseye
There was a time in the not so distant past when you had the credibility that so much so that much of what you said or wrote publicly would have been food for thought, and quite frankly influenced the thought processes and perception even if someone was a staunch supporter of the the administration.
Simply put you have lost credibility and just cannot be believed.
The PPP should have immediately after October 1992 tacitly or covertly revealed what the minutes of the PCD meetings had recorded and perhaps a few of the critical challenges they have since experienced may have turned out very differently and the roles of individuals once revered in the minds of many Guyanese would have been exposed for what they really and truly are.
… this too is another of the of the issues that no one should be bothered abt ,, since ,, like drhindz ,, dis born again african[?] ahgonseeyuh… an sidney king need to catch de boat !
Here is what Mr. Ogunseye said above. “I wish to point out for the benefit of both Mr Ramkarran and the public what actually took place. The Jagan/Thomas ticket was first raised in the PCD deliberations before the talks deadlocked and during the period of trying to break the deadlock. After the talks collapsed the PPP then moved to Mr Sam Hinds and the Civic elements. The rest is history. It is public knowledge that after the PPP/C victory Dr Jagan made an offer to Dr Clive Thomas to join his government.”
Now Mr. Ogunseye, basedon what you said, Jagan/Thomas ticket was raised during the deliberations, but the WPA wanted the ticket to be Thomas/Jagan, hence the breakdown of teh deliberations, is that not true?
Why would Jagan run as a VP candidate when it was so obvious that the PPP would have won by a landslide even if the contested teh elections without the PCD? It was foolish and greedy of the WPA to want the top position. Secondly, you said that Dr. Thomas was offered a position in Jagan’s govt. Why did Dr. Thomas not take Dr. Jagan up on this offer? Sometimes Mr. Ogunseye, you gat to tek what yuh get and wait fuh what yuh want. Now, look at teh WPA. It has no following, no influence. no voice, no nothing. It’s dead!