Dear Editor,
Joey Jagan was unduly harsh in assailing Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran in ‘Granger and Nagamootoo will work things out’ (SN, Jul 1) for not publicly endorsing and supporting the APNU+AFC coalition during the election campaign. Many felt Mr Ramkarran did the right and honourable thing not to publicly support either political force. Mr Ramkarran is a lawyer par excellence. He is a man of integrity and decency and a gentleman. He is non-confrontational and supports amiable solutions to problems. And he believes in national unity and power-sharing. He does not feel one party or one race should dominate the other. That has been his consistent position for which he was attacked by his former party. And it would have been a conflict in terms of his position to come out and support either party now. He is not a loose cannon. His writings have been fair and documented with evidence.
It is also noted that when he was Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Ramkarran was fair and balanced and received a high poll rating (in NACTA polls I conducted) for his impartiality and professionalism. He was viewed as being too impartial, so much so that he ran into confrontations with and received attacks from MPs in his own party. The PPP questioned his rulings and judgments as Speaker. But he responded in equal measure, asking them if they were prepared to challenge his ruling using their majority in parliament. He was prepared to step down from the Speaker’s chair to have his rulings challenged. I heard him challenge MPs in the chamber and the PPP MPs backed down. I went to listen to debates at several sittings of parliament. Some were very boring with a paucity of intellectual contributions. Most of the presentations lacked vigour and substance, putting listeners to sleep. They lacked the witty, humorous remarks heard in debates during the 1960s and 1970s from Mr Ramkarran’s father, Boysie, and others. Mr Ramkarran had to constantly remind MPs that they could not read verbatim from notes, appealing to them to finish their presentations when they dragged on beyond the allotted time. “Honourable member, can you summarize, your time is up,” he would say as he gave them additional time to finish their dreary presentations.
It should be noted that the fact that Mr Ramkarran did not come out publicly on the side of the coalition does not in and of itself mean that he was not supportive of the coalition or did not want the coalition to win.
One does not have to reveal a public posture to demonstrate support for a cause or movement or outcome. Publicly, he sat on the fence. But privately, his views in confidential conversations may have been different; after all he was insulted and demeaned by the hierarchy of the PPP. One must also examine closely the contents of his commentaries; he pilloried certain figures in the PPP which is a more telling signal than coming out publicly to tell people to vote coalition.
One must not forget that Mr Ramkarran is a public highly respected figure, objectively commenting on matters of public interest.
As such, many people felt it would have been inappropriate for the former Speaker, former ex-member of PPP turned critic and op ed commentator to endorse any party during the vicious electoral campaign. He has presented himself as a profound, mature thinker and people look forward to his weekly views. He rightly chose to be unaligned, providing constructive critiques of both parties.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
