Dear Editor,
The recent letters on the topic Mr Ralph Ramkarran brought up about overseas voting have enlightened many readers on this subject, whether it’s nay or aye. I do not understand, comprehend or can rationalize what came into Mr Ramkarran’s head to come up with such a nonsensical idea to place before the Guyanese public. The PPP fought for many years for an end to overseas voting, citing every reason from ‘the cradle to the grave’ for ending this nebulous practice. Mr Ramkarran wasn’t born yesterday, so that is not an excuse for such nonsense. Neither is it that he can’t remember the relatively recent past, and nor has he been an emigrant to Mongolia for the last 20 years, to provide him with the excuse that he’s out of touch with Guyanese affairs and did not know better. No, Editor, Mr Ramkarran is quite aware of everything he writes about, and that is why his views on overseas voting do him no credit and why he can never become leader of Guyana.
Mr Ramkarran’s impulses show the citizens of our country why we can’t trust some politicians to be fair-minded, straight and solid in holding onto sacred principles. His position on overseas voting is meaningless unless there is a sinister plot underfoot to once again delude the Guyanese people and introduce more conflict and disagreement. However, I’ll give Mr Ramkarran the benefit of doubt and chalk it up to sheer lack of political understanding of the resolution of the Guyanese people, who will reject his proposal as politics-as-usual and a sign of his desperation to become President by involving the Guyanese diaspora to direct the future of our political systems. We, the citizens, will reject any such proposal; we understand fully the implications of our votes.
Editor, those who live outside this country permanently (which is easy to determine), should never be allowed to vote in our elections; many people fought for this principle years ago and we have to hold to that because of the wrongs which were committed with overseas voting and which have left a permanent scar on our democratic electoral system. For Mr Ramkarran, the constitution is his excuse, but this same constitution is ravaged with intolerance, anti-democratic positions and communist influence, and he sees nothing wrong with it, even though before, there was a lot wrong with it (when he was in opposition). What a political flip-flop on the part of someone who should have more substance to offer the nation instead of irrelevance and sheer nonsense.
Mr Ramkarran is obviously fishing for the proverbial mermaid, because overseas voting for Guyanese should be an issue which should be resurrected only to show why we should not, under any circumstances, entertain such a ludicrous idea. The people who live in Guyana on a permanent basis (easy to prove) should be the only ones allowed to vote in any elections held here, because they are the ones who are affected by what the politicians decide; they are the ones who have to endure the good and the bad choices the politicians make and live with the consequences of the rulers’ actions; they are the ones who have to endure the black-outs, the poor water supplies, the poor sanitation, the inadequate education system, the crippling VAT and all the other inadequacies which face the Guyanese population and have really no impact on those Guyanese living permanently abroad. How could anyone living abroad even begin to understand the daily frustrations Guyanese living here have to endure to carry on their daily lives and secure their children’s future? Try getting the delivery of a barrel from customs a loved one has sent you!
Editor, the Guyanese living abroad are very important to our future in terms of expertise, investment, remittances and general goodwill to this nation, but the politics here in Guyana should be the sole prerogative of citizens living here permanently, and all Guyanese living abroad should be allowed to vote once they fulfil the full residency requirements of our country. We must welcome and even bend backwards, to accommodate as many Guyanese as want to come home and resettle, because it will bring a new breath of fresh air to our society as a whole and increase our wealth immeasurably.
Mr Ramkarran, unfortunately, is so immersed in politics-as-usual that his letters, in general, are a recipe for disaster in the many ideas he puts out, so I fail to understand how this can qualify him to lead our country. His problem is that he is disconnected from the regular folks and lives in a pipe-dream political world. With all our problems, not to mention our electoral ones, this idea of overseas voting is a non-starter; just as his candidacy for President is a non-starter.
Yours faithfully,
Cheddi (Joey) Jagan (Jr)
