Dear Editor,
Kindly permit me to respond to Dr Randy Persaud’s letter ‘What does Boyo Ramsaroop want?’ published in Kaieteur News and Guyana Chronicle on September 25.
I understand that Dr Randy Persaud in his new-found job is attempting to spin my words. Where in my letter, or in any other writing of mine, did I indicate the PPP owed me something? I understand the need to be in campaign mode from now, given the public’s growing cynicism and negative perception of today’s PPP. However, as a gentleman and scholar, I expect him to back up what he says and not just mouth empty words expecting them to stick as in a schoolyard argument. Dr Persaud now has access to Freedom House. He needs to go there and find out what positions or privileges, I, Boyo Ramsaroop have ever asked for.
Now that the spin has been removed, I can certainly tell Dr Persaud what I wanted from the PPP. I wanted my concerns of corruption, both within and outside of the party that I had witnessed to be addressed. I, and other stalwarts, were also becoming increasingly distressed that older and experienced people like Ralph Ramkarran, Moses Nagamootoo and Philomena Sahoye were not playing the roles we had envisaged for them. We were most alarmed too about the high-handed behaviour and acquisitions of PPP ministers and senior party people. This indicated to us a clear drift away from Dr Jagan’s principles.
Now look at the PPP today. Recently, someone no less than Mr Yesu Persaud questioned the President on whether other companies could be granted the concessions that were given to Queens Atlantic, he was arrogantly talked down to and reference was made to his ignorance of the tax laws. Remember too when Captain Gerry Gouveia questioned the helicopter deal, his concerns were peremptorily dismissed. Most shocking of all to us old stalwarts, was when after the President, at his inauguration in 1999 (when Mrs Jagan handed over to him), said that Mrs Janet Jagan would always be his President, much to our pride, and then rudely dubbed her a private citizen when she objected to the pulling of state ads from Stabroek News. This behaviour that has been well documented (it is therefore no hearsay), and the Queens Atlantic deal itself have revealed most chillingly what the PPP has become today, and this is what we were afraid of.
This is all I wanted – for those concerns to be addressed so that the PPP would remain true to Dr Jagan, and not be brushed aside as if my struggle (and those of other stalwarts) meant nothing!
In his letter too, while we know Dr Persaud holds a PhD, he had no need to exhibit his penchant for complex calculations. I had clearly stated the year that marked the beginning of my political awareness and my age too. Children were part of the revolutionary movements of Gandhi, Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela. Dr Jagan’s PPP was no different. My father recognised the importance of what has happening and groomed me from an early age, and I in turn did the same. Editor, is this something to ridicule? Dr Persaud’s attempts at spin then took a turn for the downright silly; any student of politics in Guyana, and older folks, know the PPP was the PAC.
Dr Persaud still does not give up on his attempts to spin and refers to Joseph O’Lall being a serving member of the PPP District Committee when he died, when the undisputed point was that O’Lall, despite his service to the PPP, was unceremoniously fired by the President! As an old cricketer of some repute, I would advise Dr Persaud to consider changing his bowling and bowl straight.
Now let’s look at the pace bowlers for the PPP. My son brought to my attention the following slander resulting from my letter and his blogging on http://guyanafriends.com/eve and the Stabroek News website: http://liveinguyana.blogspot.com/2009/09/gay-hard-ramsaroop.html and http://liveinguyana.blogspot. com/2009/09/real-reason-why-boyo-left-ppp.html
The content there cannot be repeated in this letter. As a parent I am enraged, but my son has pleaded with me not to say anything as he says this reveals the PPP for what it has become. I too have nothing to say about this nonsense written about me.
For the record, I have no issue with people changing allegiances, but then they must perform creditably and not bring the PPP into disrepute. Look at Mr Manzoor Nadir – I was one of the people that encouraged him to come over to the PPP and he has performed well. The same cannot be said of Kwame McCoy, Odinga Lumumba and Maniram Prashad. Mr Maniram Prashad is a very ordinary minister at best – Ms Gail Teixeira would have outperformed him one hundred fold! Who can argue with that?
Lest I be misunderstood, the PPP still has hardworking ministers such as Frank Anthony, Robeson Benn, Leslie Ramsammy, Desrey Fox, and the younger ones such as Irfaan Ali and Priya Manickchand (among others). My concern was that there was no one of the calibre of Ramkarran, Nagamootoo and Sahoye to help stay the course of Dr Jagan. You can clearly see today the impact of this.
I am grateful to Dr Jagan for having personally sent me on my Electrical Engineering scholarship to East Germany, where I met my wife, who Dr Jagan also personally helped come to Guyana. I am therefore grateful to the PPP for my wonderful family. Our achievements as a family in the ’80s include our flowers being recognised both at home (including by Dr Jagan and Mr Hoyte) and abroad (winning international awards), and by persons no less then President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Roslyn, who met me, and penned me a personal note expressing admiration for our floral arrangements at Dr Jagan’s inauguration in 1992.
We were never a burden or liability to the PPP. In fact we have always thrown all our resources behind the party. In 1992, both of our IFA trucks and all three of our smaller vehicles driven by my son, wife and me were in the campaign. They were loaned to the party too.
Dr Persaud has every right to his belief the AFC is in a pickle, but as everyone else can see, with all his spinning, he has only managed to tie up himself.
Yours faithfully,
Boyo Ramsaroop
…. Gerhard ,, i spent my formative years in Kitty /c’ville ,, and i may know ur Dad ,, try as i am constanly doin ,, since his stated declaration of moving from the PPP to advance the charge of the AFC ,, i can’t place him ,,, but that aside ,, having perused his mail ,, the above to which i post ,, i find it most disgusting to give any time to the obscene witings of anyone who is so ghetto ,, to write about the filth in which they wallow and making attempts to drag decent citizens to the level in the gutters of their mind !
stand tall ,, u ,, like me ,, and others must never indulge them lest they smirk at their success ! Ph.D persad is an academic antagonist ,,, and must be accepted as not knowing any better ! in him the syndrome of the “boy and de guttah” is alive an ,,,,, well
u know de ress !…. by the way is the flower shop on sherrif st run by the female from Germany — as i remember her saying — ur enterprise ????? i remember leavin some seeds i brought back from england with 1 of her employees ,, who i was told ,, never gave any of the seeds to her and was no longer workin for her !….
my support to any one ,, or group in GUYANA with political motives ,, must be made national by them their manifesto ,, i have had enuff of the rhetorical prose ,, as i’m sure the majority of the nation is ! so any change that is being engineered ,, must have massive doses of substance ,, talk is cheap !
Everyone accepts that the PNC is not likely to win the next election.
Everyone should accept therefore that the PPP’s likelihood in winning the next election is very good indeed.
The bad news is that the PPP knows this and this COULD make Mr Jagdeo’s replacement complacent and careless.
This puts the AFC in a curious position, very much like the Liberal Party here in the UK.
The AFC is the ‘wild-card’ in Guyanese politics and they may be able to engender change for the better simply because neither the PPP or the PNC knows what the AFC will do next.
It is therefore crucial for moderate, proactive and forward thinking officials like Gerhard and Boyo to steer the AFC away from deadwood policies toward policies which will uplift all Guyanese citizens; enhancing Guyanese exports, enforcing stiffer punishment on crminals and helping private industry (especially tourism) to prosper.
The AFC DOES have leverage and all of Guyana will benefit if that leverage is used intelligently.
Indeed, talk is cheap and I am fully with you – it is time for substance in our politics, and not personalities.
The plant shop on Sheriff St. was not us, but yes they were Germans too. My dad would have lived in Delph St. C/Ville from 1938 to 1963, and then briefly from 1970 to 1972. Thereafter we lived in Lamaha Gardens from 1978 to 2008.
I can see you like plants and if you want to see our flower farm when you come to Guyana, drop me an email gerhard.ramsaroop@gmail and I will take you.
….. Gerhard ur Dad has a few years on my ,, but i still think i know him ,, from c’ville/Kitty during the 60s ,, i guess it was foresight even at such a tender age ,, cos i left GUYANA in ‘65 cos i saw what was coming down the pike after the X13 took hold ! any livin human who does not have any affinity for plants must be dead ! or should be !…. as fuh comin back to “my love” i don’t see it in my future ! i have spoken the truth here far to many times ,, an i’m sure if they could find me whereever i am ,, they would make sure the second attempt on my life would be successful ,, meaning they tried once b4 ! they know who is dem ahtalkin bowt……
thanks for the invite ,, who knows how the mop will flop !…
take it easy ,, stay safe and healthy ,, stay close to ur Dad……
I guess Uncle would then be in order. Thank you for your words again and I hope we can meet one day. I travel to the States/Canada at least once a year too…who knows…
Through the blogs I have connected and reconnected with a lot of people. Satish and I have become close too, and I depend on the older ones to reflect myself upon so that I remain true to who I am, and of course, grow too. The details of our political views do not get in the way of us wanting a better Guyana for all Guyanese.
On behalf of my dad and I (I read the blogs to him) you take good care and stay well too.
Boyo, both SN and KN publishing your letters. SN forgets its policy or are you Mr. Favourite? good reading though…
Raj its called R E S P E C T.
Nuff said!
It makes no sense to me that Gerhard’s dad would leave the PPP and go to the AFC because he sought some favours from PPP that were not answered. Logically, he would stay on in the PPP as that’s where the soup and milk are. It has to be something else why he left. AFC has nothing to offer and those who join cannot be doing it out of opportunism. I believe him when he says it’s because of the bad direction in which the PPP went. The man shows character, Randy.
Tarron,
Despite his Ph.D., its useless trying to communicate the essence of “character” to the likes of Dr. Randy Persaud. So I’ll tell you like I tell Reddy. Stop wasting bandwidth….
My friend Tarron you have to understand the PPP and their fear and smear campaign could care less about logic, truth and character they are about continuing to fool the guyanese people that the PPP is the only choice for guyanese or as they like to put it the better of 2 evils.
The faster people wake up and realize that we do have choices and at this point we have sunk so low socially, economically and politically that really the only option we have is to ensure we have a change in government so that politicians in general will have greater respect for the electorate in Guyana.
As long as the people in GY continue to support this fraud they will never move forward.
The micro minority parties do not have any chance in any election in Guyana.Why their followers do not see this is a mystery?
‘ I, and other stalwarts, were also becoming increasingly distressed that older and experienced people like Ralph Ramkarran, Moses Nagamootoo and Philomena Sahoye were not playing the roles we had envisaged for them. We were most alarmed too about the high-handed behaviour and acquisitions of PPP ministers and senior party people. This indicated to us a clear drift away from Dr Jagan’s principles’.
I guess this ’stalwart flew the coop, no more poop’. Who cares about allegiance, debt been repaid!
The world changes and Government must make appropriate adjustments. CBJ is no more. Some people no matter how old they get, chooses to end their political career by death? Leh somebady else bowl or bat!!!
Who Tarron tryin foh bamboozle? Trotman’s AFC is one to watch!