Dear Editor,
After storming out of a PPP leadership meeting and reportedly shouting, “I done with you all,” or words to that effect, and then receiving a letter from the party’s General Secretary accepting his resignation while thanking him for his past service, Mr Moses Nagamootoo, has to be recognized as Guyana’s latest come-back kid in the political arena.
Most of us are familiar, to various degrees, with Mr Nagamootoo’s tumultuous relationship with the post-Cheddi Jagan PPP that has seen the man, once deemed as being groomed by the late doctor as his successor, being accused, abused, excused, used and refused. If you are amused, then you are not confused.
Upon returning from studying law, he never got his job back as a cabinet minister, and that was a telling economic blow in a country where there aren’t that many high-paying jobs open for fresh law graduates.
But it was his shocking announcement at a Bronx, New York meeting in January 2005 that he planned to run for his party’s presidential candidacy in 2006, that confirmed he was really isolated by the party he worked with and for since 1964. The man very well knew that Bharrat Jagdeo was the President and was eligible for a second term, so why did he shoot such a warning arrow across the President’s bow? Was he being politically suicidal?
He never did run, anyway, but made a surprising public show of allegiance to President Jagdeo in the run-up to the 2006 elections when he appeared in photo-op PPP campaign meetings. It would seem he was somehow welcomed back to the fold, perhaps because grass root supporters who really like him put enormous pressure on the PPP leadership to have him reinstated.
Strangely, after the 2006 elections, Mr Nagamootoo was not named in the President’s new cabinet. And when the Foreign Affairs Ministry position opened up recently, the President surprised the nation when he picked a minister who does not have a law degree helpful in understanding international conventions and treaties, or diplomatic experience or even the political experience equivalent to that of Mr Nagamootoo.
But Mr Nagamootoo would not be denied. Tenaciously and resiliently, he hung in there, looking for the day he’d be vindicated. In fact, most people had long written him off politically, even as others, still recognizing he has some political currency left to spend, suggested he teamed up with Khemraj Ramjattan in the Alliance For Change. He refused to do this, opting to patiently eat humble pie and wend his way back into the PPP leadership.
If his fifth place showing in the party’s CC is any indication of how far he travelled on his way back to the top echelons of the party, then Mr Nagamootoo could come to symbolize for Guyanese what we can also do if we hang in there long enough and believe in ourselves. We can make it back from the socioeconomic nadir where we now sit.
The only problem is, Mr Nagamootoo has not yet arrived; he has merely returned. It is obvious to me that the same forces that pushed him out are still there in the PPP hierarchy, and may seek to ensure he does not arrive at his desired destination: President of Guyana.
With the name ‘Moses,’ folks used it as fodder for symbolic parallels of the biblical Moses, who was sent as a deliverer of the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage. But like the biblical Moses who earnestly contended with Pharaoh and his henchmen, even as they enjoyed the political status quo of absolute power over the helpless Israelites, Mr Nagmootoo may well need divine intervention, just like his namesake in the Bible to deliver in his quest.
It is obvious Guyana’s President has not delivered the goods – economic and internal security – but can Mr Nagamootoo deliver? Can he help his fellow Guyanese – Indians, Africans, Amerindians, Chinese, Portuguese and even the ‘Douglas’ – into the land where even basic promises are not fulfilled?
If the people of Guyana, but especially those of the PPP grass-root base, believe Guyanese will continue to vote race (enabling the PPP to win) and that Mr Nagamootoo could outperform President Jagdeo, then they have to pressure Mr Nagamootoo to share with them how he plans to do better, and once they are satisfied, they should then turn the pressure on the PPP executive to recognize Mr Nagamootoo as their choice. This way, the will of the people, not the whims of the party, would take precedence.
Dr Frank Anthony, from early indications, appears to be a nice guy and may well be the party’s choice for President in 2011, but as with Jagdeo, can Guyanese blindly trust someone the party picks or should the people of Guyana, especially PPP supporters, tell the PPP whom they want? The next President will be governing all of Guyana and not just leading a political party. This is a time for serious contemplations before deciding the next major move.
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin
