Since a Prime Ministerial (PM) candidate is expected to come from the Civic component of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) alliance, executive members of the PPP will meet next week for discussions with senior Civic members on potential picks.
“The party has decided that the Ex-Co [Executive Committee] will meet with senior Civic members next week and hear their views on the process for selecting a candidate,” a source told Stabroek News following a Central Committee meeting yesterday at Freedom House, on Robb Street, Georgetown.
“The dominant view is that it should be an Afro-Guyanese and could be that they do not have to necessarily be in politics but must possess leadership qualities, [be] respected by the community and that kind of thing,” the source added.
The PPP is preparing for upcoming general elections and its Central Committee recently selected Irfaan Ali as its presidential candidate.
While no list has yet been compiled or the process for the submission of names for PM candidate started, some party executives have floated former junior Minister of Finance Juan Edghill and former Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force Mark Phillips as potential candidates.
Phillips, according to one source, “is the candidate that possess the qualities that one would want in a PM candidate” as he “has already demonstrated remarkable leadership qualities, is respected by nearly all, has no baggage and comes with very, very clean hands and an immaculate character.”
However, another senior party member believes that Edghill “would make the ideal Prime Minister.” The party official said that Edghill has worked and shows his dedication to the party’s cause and values.
“Edghill is deserving of the position for a number of reasons… he has been with the party for years and has been in the trenches, giving his all for this PPP. He has faced scathing criticisms and even saw his church affected for his alliance with us but still he continued,” the official said.
“Aside from that, he is very knowledgeable on a number of issues and keeps up to date with what is going on and is really a man of the people. He wants what is best for this party and you just have to look at his work, in the parliament, on the road, just every day. I really believe that he should be the candidate,” the official added.
But both members and the public will have to wait for a while to see the compilation of suggestions on candidates.
The party has not stopped its Central Committee from having consultations and submitting suggestions on a potential candidate but will await the meeting with the Civic’s senior members, such as former Prime Minister Sam Hinds, before it makes public the pool of persons and ultimately, the chosen candidate.
Questions have persisted over the years about the Civic component’s dwindling membership after the alliance began in 1992 and their input in governance.
While giving no hints on a candidate, Party General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo has said that it will be up to the party to decide.
“We have not opened up the process as yet. We don’t know how we will approach the issue. I am not sure [if or after the manifesto is completed] but all these things can be done simultaneously. It could be done simultaneously. It is for the party’s leadership to decide. A lot of these things are fluid now. We had to get past this milestone of the presidential candidate first, which is essential for the process to go forward and so we dealt with that,” he had said after Ali was anointed as the presidential candidate.
In a surprise move and just three months before the 2015 general elections, the PPP/C had announced former Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Elizabeth Harper, as its PM candidate. Observers had said that the PPP/C was looking for gender and ethnic balance in replacing then PM Hinds but Harper’s name had not been mentioned. Relatively unknown outside diplomatic circles and not previously associated with the political platform, the choice of Harper was seen as a huge gamble for the party, which eventually lost the elections. Harper was subsequently not named as one of its Members of Parliament.
