PPP says intends to engage Ramkarran with view to reconciling

The PPP today said it intends to engage longstanding party executive Ralph Ramkarran on his resignation with a view to reconciling.

Ramkarran’s resignation on Saturday sent shockwaves through the party and the political firmament.

In a fuller statement today on the resignation, Freedom House noted that Ramkarran had felt insulted by the remark of a member at a fiery party meeting on Friday. Freedom House said that Ramkarran left the meeting and the person who made the offending remark withdrew it and an apology was offered. It is unclear whether an apology was offered directly to Ramkarran.

The statement recognized the “valuable contributions to the Party and the country as a whole”, made by Ramkarran, who was observing the 50th anniversary of his joining the PPP.

The contretemps at the Friday meeting revolved around an explosive column in the Mirror newspaper last month in which Ramkarran called on the government to do something about the “pervasive” corruption in the country.

Political analysts say the resignation is a serious blow to the party and its credibility in the wake of other setbacks. The analysts point to the departure of party veteran and stalwart Moses Nagamootoo, the PPP/C’s loss of thousands of votes at last year’s general elections, the surge in support for the AFC in the sugar belt, the party’s losing of control of Parliament to the opposition and scathing remarks about party officials by Nadira Jagan-Brancier, the daughter of the late presidents Cheddi and Janet Jagan. Jagan-Brancier had been concerned that the party was straying from the precepts of honesty and frugality laid down by the Jagans.

On top of this, the analysts say that Ramkarran’s departure would seriously weaken the party in the eyes of its constituency. Ramkarran’s father, Boysie Ramkarran, was a contemporary of Cheddi Jagan and a popular party leader with close links to sugar workers.

The PPP statement follows:

“The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) received the letter of resignation from the party from Mr. Ralph Ramkarran on June 30th, 2012.

“As was stated in Cde Ramkarran’s press statement, the trigger for this was a very heated discussion at the Executive Committee Meeting held on June 29th, 2012.

“Fiery debates are not unusual in the Party, unfortunately this one led to a resignation. In fact, the Party’s leadership encourages open and frank deliberation on all issues with members given the opportunity to fully participate.

“The Party’s EXCO still hopes that Cde Ramkarran will reconsider his action as there is no fundamental disagreement on any policy issue. It was a case where Cde Ramkarran felt insulted by the remarks of another member and left the meeting before it concluded. The offending remark was withdrawn by the member and an apology was also offered.

“The Party wishes to state that Cde Ramkarran is a long standing and highly respected member. He has made very valuable contributions to the Party and the country as a whole.

“We intend to engage Cde Ramkarran in further discussions with a view of reconciling the matter. This is an approach we have always taken in such situations.”