Dear Editor,
I predicted long ago after Dr Cheddi Jagan died, that the PPP would disintegrate. This is a party I spent 40 years of my life with, and later had to leave because of a greedy set of so-called leaders. It is sad to see how they are destroying Cheddi’s legacy and the party he formed when he came back from the United States in1943 and started to fight for the poor and downtrodden. Cheddi paid a lot of attention to statistics, not like these new leaders who only think about wealth and getting rich off poor people’s backs. Cheddi and his wife Janet were honest leaders; nothing ever filled their eyes. The two of them were dedicated to securing independence for Guyana and freeing the country from the shackles of imperialist and capitalist oppression.
These are some of the struggles that motivated me as a little boy of about 11 to follow him, and every time I heard he was coming to speak at Lima dam turn which was popularly known as Bourda Green I would leave my father’s home to hear Dr Cheddi Jagan and LFS Burnaham speak. They were the most dynamic speakers I have ever heard. Both of them would share the same political platform. There was no breakaway faction then; it was one PPP and all the races would attend in large crowds. Jagan’s legacy was rich; he and Burnham were born leaders, not like the leaders of today.
Cheddi inspired me a lot because of his simplicity and honesty, and this motivated me to became a member of the PYO at the age of 16, and I started to attend youth meetings in the village at Cyril Inderpaul’s house at Lima dam. The meeting place was then moved to Vishnu Bhagwandeen father’s house and then later to Pandit Chowby’s residence. We had formed a judo, boxing and acrobatic youth group which performed and raised money for the party at all PPP sponsored Phagwah fairs because we loved Cheddi. In those days the organizers were Isahak Basir, Toolsie Mangra, Bhola Persaud and Harripersaud Nokta. Basir and his wife Sabra were the most active; they did a lot of fundraising from excursions in the Pomeroon and Shell Beach.
These were some of the people that I can remember who helped build the PPP from scratch. At a meeting in the regional boardroom of Region Two, Bharrat Jagdeo who was the president came to meet with Essequibians. It was his second term in office, and I remember quite clearly that when Comrade Basir rose on the floor to ask a question, Jagdeo told him to sit down in a hostile manner. Comrade Basir a longstanding stalwart and founder member of Jagan’s party was so embarrassed, he walked out from the meeting and went home. That was the turning point when the party moved from being democratic to authoritarian. I saw the end was near and freedom of speech in the party was coming to an end. Later Basir was expelled from the party for speaking out against Jagdeo’s attitude and was debarred from attending the Diamond Congress.
He was turned away at the gate and had to return home; all the other leaders stood there without uttering a word. Then came Donald Ramotar’s election as president where he presided over the first minority government in Guyana, and with another election on May 11, 2015, the PPP was booted out of office by the AFC+APNU coalition after being in government for 23 years. This was the beginning of the end of the PPP. Certain basic facts started to be established: the PPP was getting weaker than ever; increasingly, more and more party members started to walk away after the PPP lost the election; and worst of all the new crop of leaders started to move away from Jagan’s policy and legacy.
It is touted on facebook and the social media that two former minister of the previous administration are being offered ministerial positions in the new coalition government and that the PPP is losing support. Apart from strife at the leadership level, there are growing contradictions between the PPP leadership and rank and file because of the leadership.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
