Dear Editor,
When I asked the question before the 2011 general elections why Donald Ramotar who has been in the PPP since 1967 was never picked by the Jagans to any high office such as minister of government, I got complete silence from the direction of the PPP propagandists and defenders. Donald Ramotar had been with the PPP for 32 years by the time Janet Jagan resigned as president yet he was never considered fit by the Jagans for a position in government. I saw that as a major red flag in a party where the Jagans by virtue of their communist beliefs saw nothing wrong in giving positions of governmental power to all manner of individuals.
Something about Donald Ramotar caused the Jagans to balk from giving him the reins of national power. Donald Ramotar’s abject performance as president since elected on November 28, 2011 confirms why. I believe the Jagans did not perceive Ramotar as within the upper echelons of the party’s thinkers and decision-makers. Donald Ramotar was seen as a party organizer and not a natural leader or an engaging personality to fit the role of a minister. One gets the distinct impression that the Jagans did not see Ramotar as possessing those skills that Cabinet ministers must possess such as strong analytical abilities, interactive capabilities, decision-making under pressure, independence of mind, industriousness and judgement. President Ramotar has not demonstrated the ability to think outside of the script handed to him by his advisors, who are predominantly Jagdeo’s advisors. Before his ascension to the presidency, there were questions about Mr. Ramotar’s work ethic. Those questions persist given the sloth of action from his administration. The Jagans had incredible work ethic and demanded this trait of their ministers.
Mr. Ramotar has failed. In karmic fashion, this failure shows why the Jagans never promoted Ramotar to government or never groomed him for the ultimate position of the presidency. He was a good servant of the party and an okay party leader but not a national leader capable of handling the complexities of ministerial and most definitely not for presidential duties. That the Jagdeoites would handpick Donald Ramotar as the PPP’s presidential candidate while destroying the little democracy left in the PPP to do so by suspending a party congress and election, is a signal of just how sinister these charlatans are. Why would they destroy the party in this fashion for a man whom the Jagans never deemed leadership or presidential material? If we think Janet Jagan made a horrendous mistake in selecting Jagdeo to the presidency, we are seeing thus far an even more egregious error in the handpicking of Ramotar.
Maybe Jagdeo voted for Ramotar as his successor in the hope that once Ramotar is exposed for gross ineptitude, non-responsiveness, lame-duck tactics and crushing failures, his (Jagdeo’s) tarnished image and legacy will be re-examined in a more positive light against Ramotar’s.
As bizarre as it is, it is the only explanation I could come up with to explain Ramotar’s arrival in the Guyana presidency.
Yours faithfully,
M. Maxwell
