Mere months after her entry into active politics, it appears as if former PPP/C prime ministerial candidate Elisabeth Harper is making a hasty retreat as her name was not on the list of 32 names released yesterday by the PPP/C to take up its Parliament seats.
Harper, the former Director General of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, was reported by online news site News Source as saying that while the PPP/C approached her to be one of its 32 members in the National Assembly, she declined.
Stabroek News attempted to make contact with Harper for over a week on the report but when she was finally reached yesterday she declined to give a comment.
“I have nothing else to say,” Harper said yesterday, when a reporter from Stabroek News identified herself and even before a question was posed.
Further pressed and asked if she would not even confirm reports in other sections of the media that she had declined an offer by the PPP/C to serve in Parliament, she questioned; “Said by me?”
“Whatever I have said, I have said and I am not saying anything else,” she added before ending the call.
Observers have said Harper’s refusal to serve in Parliament does not augur well for her image since she would have made several promises on the campaign trail and it would have been expected that she would go to the National Assembly and make representations based on her commitments. It was pointed out that if Harper, who was a surprise candidate in the race as she was not known to the world of politics prior to the announcement, wanted to serve in the second highest office in the land, then she should have been prepared to serve at the parliamentary level, even if the PPP/C lost the polls.
With Harper declining to serve in Parliament, the PPP/C would be in a situation where neither its Prime Ministerial candidate nor its Presidential candidate, former President Donald Ramotar, is in Parliament. It is not clear if Ramotar refused to be an ordinary member but his name was not on the PPP/C’s lists, which were released yesterday. Former president Bharrat Jagdeo is said to be taking up the position of opposition leader, with wide support from the PPP’s leadership.
In an interview with this newspaper earlier this year after her candidacy was announced, Harper had defended the policies of the PPP/C administration and brushed aside corruption allegations against the government.
“They [the PPP/C] have taken Guyana to a higher level in our development. Our economy is growing. We have better education, better health care. We have a housing programme that has really taken off and… we have also seen Guyana’s profile enhanced internationally,” Harper had said in an exclusive interview with Stabroek News.
She had promised that as Prime Minister she would have focused on domestic violence and teenage pregnancy with the aim of helping to empower women and young girls. The elderly and the disabled were also expected to be areas of interest.
Following her entry into the race, Harper had also revealed that she had been the subject of attempts at extortion pertaining to a case that her son has in court.
“Since I have been appointed as the PPP/C Prime Ministerial Candidate there have been attempts by a known individual, tantamount to blackmail or political extortion regarding a legal dispute between my 36-year old son and his former business partners. My son is engaged in his own business enterprise. I am aware that he and his former business partners have been in court in Guyana since November 2014 to settle a dispute that has arisen. I love my son dearly and am fully supportive of him. I also respect his business independence. In view of the fact that the matter is being addressed by the Court it is therefore sub judice,” Harper had said in a statement.
