As a contender for the presidential candidacy General Secretary Ramotar should not be in the chair when the Central Committee discusses the secret ballot issue

Dear Editor,

The debate around the use of the secret ballot to select the presidential candidate for the People’s Progressive Party, of which I am a long-standing member and activist, is heating up.

I fully support the right of the contending candidates to demand a secret ballot. The argument by current General Secretary Donald Ramotar (one of the contenders for the position) that there was none before is ridiculous. Comrade Ramotar is factually incorrect. The truth is that there was no need for a secret ballot, because the previous candidates were elected unopposed as there were no other contenders. However, there were many contests in the Central Committee with regard to elections for the executive and these were by secret ballot.

The current contest for the PPP presidential candidate is being carried out within the context of presidential intervention and support for a particular candidate, combined with the fact that so many of the voting members at the Executive and Central Committees are directly employed by the state and are at the mercy of the President with regard to the security of their employment.

What happened to Cdes Navin Chandarpal, O’Lall, Moses Nagamootoo and Rajendra Bisessar is concrete proof and very strong reason for a secret ballot rather than the show of hands. A show of hands here would takes us back to the original question and problems.

But there is the argument of a secret ballot being part of democratic norms and that the Chairman of the Central Committee should simply put it to the floor and prepare the necessary ballots for the election. The problem is that the Chairman is a contender who realizes that secret balloting would kill his presidential ambitions, and has pronounced in favour of the show of hands. It seems therefore that the precondition for a democratic process is for the General Secretary, a nominee, to remove himself from the chair whenever this issue is being discussed. The President who seems to have thrown in his support for the Ramotar candidacy should do the same.

Those in the Central Committee who have retained democratic tendencies, who have any respect for Dr Cheddi, who have any respect for the members and their aspirations, who have Guyana at heart must unite to stop the imposition of a presidential candidate in an undemocratic manner.  We must ensure that we place persons in power who will serve our interest and the country’s interest. If the leaders do not denounce their bad habits and mend their ways then we must reclaim the party by leaving them stranded. We must take the party back from them.  This is a call to Ramkarran, Moses, Navin and Indra Chandarpal, Komal Chand, Dr Motilall, Philomena Sahoye, Clinton Collymore and others to rally together to preserve the legacy of Dr Jagan and the PPP as a working class and national party that has pledged to unite and advance Guyana.

In closing I would like to take this opportunity to condemn the President’s attack on the character of Navin. It seems that the President has forgotten the days when we would all be drinking in the shop obliquely opposite Freedom House. I guess he has now forgotten the thousands of workers in this country who cannot afford high-falutin places to imbibe and have as their drinking place the rum shops where we all used to hang out with them.

In the meantime let’s not forget a few of the ministers and their favourite watering hole well known to the President.

Yours faithfully,
Rajendra Bisessar