Changing face of Guyana's politics
GUYANA has just undergone a virtual sea change in leadership after the long years of political dominance by Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham with last Wednesday's historic rise of the young, 35-year-old Bharrat Jageo as Executive President. This followed the resignation, due to ill health, of Janet Jagan, undoubtedly an outstanding icon in modern West Indian politics. It is a stunning development that has implications for the future leadership of both the governing People's Progressive Party (PPP) and the main opposition People's National Congress (PNC) of Desmond Hoyte whose own leadership will now come under more critical scrutiny. Jagan's resignation has at once replaced the oldest head of state in the western hemisphere with the youngest, and also deprived the PNC of two of its propaganda weapons of the 1997 election campaign - race (her whiteness) and age. Jagdeo would be aware that some within the PPP, which he joined when just a teenaged student, may not be pleased with his elevation, considering themselves more qualified and/or deserving of that post, although, as is now publicly known, his choice was "unanimous" by the party's Central Committee and by the representatives of the PPP's Civic component. But he would also know that with the death of the party's patriarch, Cheddi Jagan, in March 1997, he or she who sits as Executive President cannot also automatically speak for the leadership of the PPP which is democratically run by a Central Committee - often in contrast to the PNC. In the PNC, which has surprisingly just postponed its biennial congress from this month for a year, amid reports of divisions of strategy, leadership style and concepts like "power sharing", the post of General Secretary is still the chosen preserve of the "maximum leader" - unlike the case for major parties throughout the region. His current appointee is Oscar Clarke, who replaced the sacked Aubrey Norton. Right now, the twin focus will be on Jagdeo's performance and what's happening in the PNC with its leader who will be 72 years for the 2001 general election - the oldest leader then of political parties in the Caribbean Community, and one who has already had to undergo heart surgery. Jagdeo, one of the high profile achievers in the governments of Cheddi and Janet Jagan, was known to be the favoured choice of an "A Team" - as presented during the 1997 election campaign - for the presidency should it become necessary during the current PPP/Civic second term. But for the general election expected in 2001, the credible potential presidential candidates, apart from Jagdeo, remain Dr. Roger Luncheon, Head of the Presidential Secretariat; Ralph Ramkarran, lawyer and chairman of the Constitution Reform Commission; and Information Minister Moses Nagamootoo - all members of the party's Central Committee. To these could also be added the longstanding Central Committee member, veteran parliamentarian and Minister of Agriculture, Pandit Reepu Daman Persaud; as well as the party's General Secretary, Donald Ramotar who plays an anchorman role at party headquarters, Freedom House. Except that neither Ramotar nor Persaud is known to have shown any keen interest in having their names associated with potential presidential candidates. Of the four - Jagdeo, Luncheon, Ramkarran and Nagamootoo -perhaps the most influential and powerful in the governmental structure, apart from the now President Jagdeo himself, remains Luncheon, highly respected for his competence and commitment by top party comrades and cabinet ministers. For all the speculation at this time, however, it is doubtful whether the PPP/Civic will want to switch from its young presidential candidate, after just some 17 months in office, to go into a new election. Moreso, given its awareness of the internal problems being faced by the PNC and the importance of consolidating its own gains. And the news is that on his return from holiday, Nagamootoo will add his own endorsement to Jagdeo as President. In contrast to the PPP's list of credible potential presidential candidates, the PNC, though it would clearly not admit to it publicly, is faced with a serious problem, stuck as it is with Hoyte and without ANY of the party's top official or parliamentary representative being suggested as a likely replacement to head the party's list of candidates. While dissent over leadership, policy and strategy issues within the PNC have largely been masked by lack of investigative journalism - including the financing of parties by local and foreign corporate interests - the appointment of Jagdeo as President, the postponement of the party's congress to next year and other factors in the body politic, are now expected to influence a shift in the local media focus on the politics and future of the PNC also. To his critics who feel he is too young to be tasked with such heavy responsibilities, Jagdeo noted at his swearing-in: "Being young is not a disadvantage. Rather it is an opportunity. "My accession to the presidency is symbolic of what can be achieved with hard work...I am honoured that a country boy, born into a working class family could rise to this highest office in the land..." Incidentally, he is the "boy" whose challenge for television debate with Hoyte during the 1997 election campaign, the PNC leader chose to avoid. Now, whatever the future of Guyana without the Jagans at the leadership helm of party or government, Wednesday's generational change in leadership resulting from the resignation of Janet Jagan, matriarch of the PPP, will undoubtedly have a telling impact on the future leadership of the PNC that is faced with its own problems, and not just financial. For a start, the taunts hurled at Janet Jagan from the PNC about her age at the 1997 general election when she was 77, will come to haunt the party for election 2001 when its leader, Hoyte, will be 72. Apparently caught off guard by Jagan's sudden resignation and knowing of the implications of the 35-year-old Jagdeo as the new Executive President, the PNC, while saying precious little about the postponement of its congress, was busy complaining about violation of the "spirit and intent" of the Guyana Constitution in the appointment of Jagdeo. Making politics is the business of parties. But not just the PNC, Guyana as a whole had learnt during the 1997 general election that the presidency will always be held by a representative of the PPP and that of Prime Minister by its Civic component (the post constantly held by Sam Hinds, except when acting as President). For all its complaints and threats, the PNC knew that it really had no case to take to court last week to support its claim of violation of the existing 'Burnhamist' constitution in the arrangements for Jagdeo's rise to the presidency. So far as the claim about Prime Minister Hinds being bypassed for the presidency - a claim that was again wrapped with the usual implicit racist propaganda - Hinds himself must be enjoying his laugh over this simulated concern by the opposition on his behalf. The PNC would know that this propaganda thrust cannot hold. What it can do, and this will hardly come as any surprise to informed Caribbean watchers of Guyana's complex and distressing politics, is that its leader, Hoyte, can still refuse to meet the new President - as he did while Jagan was in office - using the usual claim of the defeated about "legitimacy" of the government. The truth is, as events have established, the President of the PPP/Civic administration does not need Hoyte's "recognition" to conduct the nation's business. Incidentally, since when is "legitimate" government a concern of the PNC - after its defeat in 1992 and a history of rigged elections? Hoyte himself, after all, is in parliament today because the President of a supposedly "illegitimate" government (Janet Jagan) was willing to facilitate passage and assent of a relevant Bill, for him and his colleagues to retain the parliamentary seats they had lost by an extended post-1997 election boycott. This "non-recognition" stunt by the PNC of the PPP/Civic government - like that party's faked concern for Hinds to be President - is another amusing aspect of party 'politriks' in Guyana at a time of significant generational change in leadership. But with Janet Jagan's resignation as President to quietly provide elder stateswoman's guidance, and the emergence of Jagdeo as President, time and events may have caught up with both the PPP and PNC. The political challenge ahead has become most interesting indeed for this home base of the Caribbean Community Secretariat.
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