Why shouldn’t Guyanese be allowed to nominate their presidential candidates as is done in the US?

Dear Editor,
Emile Mervin’s letter of December 28, 2007 in, SN captioned, ‘Presidential candidate should not be chosen behind closed doors…’ tried to start a debate on an important national issue. A few months ago in a letter to SN, I also called on the PPP to agree to a direct vote involving all its members.  It is as if Mr Mervin and I were talking to the mountains. If there was any response from the PPP, it was that this was a private PPP party matter. So said the party’s general secretary, Donald Ramotar.

We are talking about the process to elect a new presidential candidate and possibly a new president for Guyana.

And a top party spokesman says this is a private matter. It is as if Guyana is privately owned.

Today there are approximately 300,000 Guyanese people who have settled in the United States. And, yes, we like the American system where all citizens register with a party of our own free will and get to vote to nominate/elect our party’s presidential candidate. In this system, the candidates get a chance to explain their platform on major issues affecting the country, and millions of registered party members vote freely for their preferred candidate.

And, if you really like the candidate, you send money to his campaign to help get him elected.

This is the system that produced and nominated Barack Obama. I liked his positions so much – on universal health care, immigration reform, ending the Iraq war (to name a few) – that I sent $100 for his campaign.  Why shouldn’t the Guyanese people have the same free, open system to elect their presidential candidate? Why should only 36 people (in reality most of the 36 will be too scared to oppose President Jagdeo’s choice) be allowed to elect the new leader behind closed doors?

Today’s SN (July 6) published a letter from Dr Randy Persaud listing his academic/bio profile. No one will deny that this man has impressive academic credentials. So does Kit Nascimento. So does Pro-Chancellor of the UG, Dr Prem Misir. Guyanese people learned a long time ago that what counts is not academic credentials but the character of the person. And all three of these men are playing the role of the piper.

Here is a chance for Dr Persaud to redeem himself. Would he defend the ancient system of 36 central committee people selecting the next leader of the party, and possibly future president of the country?

Yours faithfully,
Mike Persaud