No infighting over Jagdeo accession - Nagamootoo
Information Minister Moses Nagamootoo, yesterday said that whether or not he was in the country when President Janet Jagan resigned, he "would have supported" the decision by the PPP to name Mr Bharrat Jagdeo as her successor. Nagamootoo, yesterday, made this disclosure in a statement issued to counter a recent article in the New Nation, the organ of the People's National Congress (PNC), which he said "has employed falsehoods to manufacture rumours and fuel speculation" designed to create a rift between himself and President Jagdeo and mistrust between himself and Mrs Jagan. Responding to a claim in the article that Mr Jagdeo's accession to the presidency was the product of PPP infighting, Nagamootoo said "I took part in the decision for the inclusion of Bharrat Jagdeo in the PPP/Civic's electoral "A" team in 1997. It was the collective decision of the party's leadership. There was no infighting." Often mentioned as a possible candidate for the leadership of the People's Progressive Party (PPP), Nagamootoo asserted that President Jagdeo assumed the Presidency "in accordance with a principle that defined the role and place of the PPP and its civic allies in the Government," adding that the principle was "both democratic and constitutional". He denied that Mrs Jagan arranged for him to visit the United States so that she could orchestrate Mr Jagdeo's accession to the presidency, explaining that the visit was a family vacation planned well in advance of her decision to resign. "Ms Jagan knew about our vacation plans on the day I was leaving Guyana, during a routine telephone conversation with me." In response to another claim by the New Nation that there was much bitterness between himself and the President, Nagamootoo described his relationship with the President as "politically correct and comradely". "It is natural to have vigorous disagreements on tactical issues, but we share in common the conviction of our party for a better Guyana. We are also committed to the principles of cooperation and collective leadership." He also denied that he is a special target of an anti-Nagamootoo group inside the PPP, dismissing it as "a cheap attempt at sowing mistrust and division in the party's leadership. It smacks of hypocrisy coming from the PNC which has tried without success to bully, bribe and silence me." He also refuted another claim made by the New Nation that he had gained the highest number of votes at the PPP's 1997 Congress, explaining that Mrs Jagan, then President of Guyana, "polled the highest number of votes, and I came second. "For me, the popularity rating of Ms Jagan among the party's membership was well deserved, and was a true reflection of her role as the matriarch of contemporary political developments in Guyana." Jagdeo also denied claims that he had sought admission to the Hugh Wooding Law School to continue his legal studies, explaining that he wanted to become an attorney but gave it up when he was persuaded by then President, Dr Cheddi Jagan to rejoin his Cabinet. Another claim he denied was that he had written a biography of Mrs Jagan and that the manuscript was with the printers when she resigned. He described the claim as a "total fabrication", asserting that he had sent "no such manuscript for publication".
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