Cheddi Jagan was homeless when he left the premier’s office

Dear Editor,

In a letter condemning the silence of the PPP inner circle on corruption and extolling the virtue of Ralph Ramkarran’s position, Cheddi Jagan’s son, ‘Joey’ Jagan had this to say: “On a personal note, Boysie Ramkarran helped our family greatly when in 1964, after being forced out of government, my father was really homeless and we had to rent a house on Camp Street. Boysie sold my father a piece of his land in Bel Air at a very low price so my father could finally own his own property” (‘Without Boysie, Jagan would have been like a man without a right arm, and so will the PPP be without Ralph Ramkarran,’ SN, July 4). This revelation is astounding as it reveals how far those who have hijacked the party of Cheddi Jagan have departed from the core morality and value system of the man himself, and from the principles upon which he built the PPP. In this country where the PPP’s chosen few can within a short period of time acquire mansions, poolhouses, Prados, etc, the father of modern politics in Guyana and the founder of the nation’s first mass political party was a homeless man after serving this nation for 7 years as its premier before leaving office in 1964. Boysie Ramkarran sold Cheddi Jagan property at a very low price to enable a man who gave his life, heart and soul to his country and took nothing from it, to finally own his own home.

It is a grave degradation of the legacy of Cheddi Jagan that those who have usurped his party should have acquired so much when the founding father of the PPP, a great son of the soil, a legend of national resistance, a fighter for freedom from colonialism and one of the epitomes of our national identity took nothing and gave everything to this nation. It should grieve the heart and shame the soul of every PPP supporter that the PPP formed by this man of honesty has gone from a centre of humility, sacrifice, struggle and generosity to a contemptible culture of entitlement, arrogance, avarice and transgression. No wonder Ralph Ramkarran left. No wonder Moses Nagamootoo left. No wonder Khemraj Ramjattan left. Even Cheddi Jagan would have left in these circumstances.

Yours faithfully,
M Maxwell