Dear Editor,
I write in relation to the article captioned, ‘Nagamootoo says suffered “major disqualifications” while in PPP’, in the Stabroek News of February 10.
Mr Nagamootoo’s accusations seem to be at variance with his pro-Jagdeo campaign speech in 2006 and his role as a PPP parliamentarian up to the time of his unsuccessful bid to be the party’s presidential candidate in the 2011national elections. Not without significance too, is the fact that he supported the PPP’s Bill in parliament that originally set the salary and benefits of Mr Jagdeo, a position he recanted after switching party and becoming the Prime Minister in the APNU+AFC government.
According to the report, Mr Naganmootoo claims that one of his major disqualifications was that he never studied in the then Soviet Union and his refusal to be “indoctrinated into the Communist party of the Soviet Union”. Well, it is well known in Guyana and in the diaspora that Mr Nagamootoo was one of the leading Marxists in the PPP. In fact, in the comments section of the Stabroek News article, Tarron Khemraj who is/was a leading supporter of APNU wrote, “The Prime Minister is a hard core Marxist. That’s all he knows.” This charge seems more intended to calm likely uneasiness of international investors and Western powers as the country prepares for oil production.
Next, the report quotes Mr Nagamootoo as saying “It had always been thought that the PPP was some type of pro-Hindu party and when it was discovered that I was a Christian, I suffered disqualification that I lived with for many, many years.” Well, in that 2006 campaign speech, Mr Nagamootoo is reported as saying “In Cheddi Jagan’s house, there is and must always be room for all races, all ethnicities, all cultures, all beliefs. In Cheddi Jagan’s house, there is room for all shades of opinions, different views and critical analysis” (Guyana Journal, September 2006). And now Tarron Khemraj in his further comments notes “What does he mean pro-Hindi? How many Hindi speakers are there in the PPP’s Central Committee and Executive Committee?”
The Guyana News and Information website that currently shows Mr Nagamootoo’s biography states that he joined the PYO in October 1964. From 1992 to 2011, he served as a Member of Parliament and was a Member of Cabinet under four Presidents (Cheddi and Janet Jagan, Samuel Hinds and Bharrat Jagdeo during the period 1992-2001. The fact that Mr Nagamootoo is a Christian would have been known since he became a PYO/PPP member. Again in that 2006 speech, of Mr Jagdeo in particular, he is reported as saying, “I have watched Bharrat Jagdeo with unbiased eyes.
I see in him a good person, who loves his country dearly, who portrays love of all races, love of children and our youth, and concern for the elderly. Moreover, I see in him as a leader with an agenda to push development. I share his broad vision to modernize this country, so we may create more jobs, more opportunities, and raise the standard of living of all.” This begs the question: when did he suffer this disqualification because he was a Christian?
Finally, according to the report, Mr Nagamootoo claims having to fight “an internal racism and living with it and still determined that there was a role I had to play in the interest of the people of Guyana.” Firstly, while its supporters are largely Indo-Guyanese, the face of the PPP in parliament has been highly diversified in relation to race and religion, possibly the most diversified of all the parties. The party’s current general secretary is of mixed race and so was its last general secretary who held the position of President of the country from 2011 to 2015. It is unlikely that all the non-Indians in the party would have tolerated any internal racism in the party. And, back to that 2006 speech, Mr Nagamootoo himself is reported as saying that Jagdeo “portrays love of all races”. The question then is when, where and by whom this “internal racism” originated?
I believe Mr Nagamootoo, like Mr Ramkaran, was unfairly treated when the party’s top brass undemocratically selected Mr Donald Ramotar as its presidential candidate for the 2011 elections. While Mr Nagamootoo’s accusations, from the perspective of an individual who believes that he was unfairly treated by his former colleagues are understandable, he is now the Prime Minister of the country, tasked by the President to enter into discussion with the opposition party, his former colleagues, to bring about social cohesion at the national level. At this time, these charges which seem to lack credibility are certainly not helpful to bring the opposition members on board.
Yours faithfully,
Harry Hergash
