Dear Editor,
Traditionally, in this country, the political scene has been dominated by ‘giants.‘ Burnham and Jagan were, if I correctly recall, men large enough to bear and wear multiple hats. Much of the hat-wearing was symbolic.
I suppose that in Mr Burnham’s case, being president of the GLU, I think it was, President, party leader, and so on, was more expressive of a pre-eminence and of his perceived stature and the powers ascribed to him, than functional in a day-to-day way.
The accumulation of titles and offices served to confirm the standing of these leaders as demiurge and visionary and source of inspiration and undisputed ruler of a realm that spanned labour to politics.
I cannot recall if Burnham and Jagan had ministerial portfolios also. But perhaps Burnham and Jagan were of the generation of ‘charismatic‘ politicians who, in political science are thrown up at historical moments when peoples need the psychological assurance these figures offer.
It has long been our wish that we evolve out of such a dependency. Mr Ramotar is, till now, president, general secretary, minister of information, commander in chief of armed and unarmed and human and demonic forces, and perhaps more.
There is something Naipaulian in the array of titles and medals with which we load the simple and limited men who lead us.
For this reason I think Mr Granger should yield to Mr Greenidge on the issue of leadership of the party. Not because Mr Granger cannot lead it. But because the heavy day-to-day work of parliamentary opposition may not allow time for the kind of restructuring the party requires at this time. Besides, the people have to be weaned from the idea of the ‘Big Man‘ and allowed to witness the distribution of power and competence in a party that should, by this time, have reached the maturity necessary to push it beyond salvationist politics.
Similarly, with its problems, Mr Ramotar should, PPP style, appoint an Interim Management Committe to fix his party. A competent and trusted (by the populace) figure should be named – Mr Ralph Ramkarran if possible – and things reorganised.
What is feared, on both sides it would appear, is the consolidation of little cliques around the centres of power that the personality of party leader will facilitate. I understand that the PNC election is for the ascendancy of the Murray group that was anti-Corbin and is now pro-Greenidge, against the Granger group that is a creature of Mr Corbin’s. Since we do not know or understand all the dynamics involved we concede that there may be more to the campaigning letters in the press than meets the eye.
Yours faithfully,
Abu Bakr
