PPP Congress to discuss popular polls proposal
Stabroek News
July 18, 2002
The PPP Congress this weekend will discuss a resolution seeking to introduce direct election of the top officers of the party and the removal of any reference to Marxism/ Leninism and Socialism from the party's constitution.
If accepted, the PPP Congress at Port Mourant would return to its pre-1968 structure, which provided for a party leader, a chairman and a general secretary. The resolution calls for these posts to be contested at the Congress.
At present, there are no posts of leader and chairman of the party and the general secretary is elected by members of the central committee.
PPP General Secretary, Donald Ramotar yesterday confirmed that a resolution seeking those changes as reported in Monday's edition of the Stabroek News was submitted to the Congress committee and would be up for discussion by the delegates to the Congress.
Ramotar denied that the Campbellville group, which made the proposal, was asked to withdraw the resolution, even though he met the group to discuss the issue. Stabroek News reported on Monday that top PPP officials had met the group in an effort to get it to withdraw the resolutions.
Apart from Ramotar, other leading PPP members have been reluctant to offer any comment on the issue. PPP central committee member and parliamentarian, Khemraj Ramjattan declined to comment on proposals submitted by the Campbellville party group of which he is a member. He also refused to confirm whether or not his group has made such proposals.
Public Relations secretary of the PPP, Robert Persaud, also declined comment on the issue, telling Stabroek News that he could not comment on issues to be considered at his party's congress until the party members had discussed them.
Persaud said that to his knowledge no such proposals had been made in the recent past.
He recalled that there were posts of party leader and chairman but that they were abolished around 1968 at the congress that year.
As it stands, the party does not have a party leader or a chairman and only has the position of General Secretary. The General Secretary is decided through an election by the party's Central Committee (CC). A party insider said the proposal is for the party leader's position to automatically go to the President in keeping with the universal practice. The source said the argument is that when national elections are due, this position is to be vied for at a Congress by candidates showing an interest in running as the party's presidential candidate unless no other contestant wishes to compete against the existing incumbent candidate.
"The elitist practice of a selection of the presidential candidate by a few leaders, rather than the larger party membership, of such an important position is an outmoded, undemocratic mechanism. Long gone are the days when the rank and file membership must simply be informed of the decision; rather they should be consulted and be part of the process in deciding this issue," the PPP/C insider said.
The Chairman, on the other hand, the Cambellville group proposal moots, will chair all of the party's Executive Committee, Central Committee and other important meetings, while the General Secretary would serve as the chief executive officer of the party. These two office holders, the proposal says, must be elected at Congress.
On the issue of who should be on the Executive Committee, the PPP/C insider said the proposal is for the party leader, the chairman and the general secretary to be members as well as the 12 persons securing the highest number of votes at Congress. As it stands, voting at Congress is for the 35 elected Central Committee members who, after their first meeting, would vote in 15 persons to sit as the Executive of the party.
Another proposal is to have the terms "Socialist/Socialism, Marxism/Leninism and democratic centralism" removed from the party's constitution and be replaced with the terms "national democratic", "constitutional and national democratic principles" and "transparency, accountability, equality and the rule of law" respectively.
Additionally, the proposal is also seeking to alter the composition of the party's Central Committee by allowing for meaningful geographic representation.
One source said that the Campbellville group is proposing that the system of election for Central Committee members be altered so that the dominance by party leaders who reside in the city and its surroundings ceases.
This proposal seeks to mandate that nine of the 35 seats for the central committee be dedicated to residents of Berbice and seven for Essequibians, as these counties account largely for the party's victory at the polls.
Additionally, the proposal seeks to institutionalise gender representation by having a third of the Central Committee list of nominees be women.
This proposal to alter the geographic composition of the party is not expected to go down well with the existing Central Committee and Executive members as it would mean that many of them would be left out of the picture as their votes at the party's congress may not be sufficient to secure the remaining seats at CC.
Stabroek News was further told that the proposal also seeks to introduce the concept of accountability within the party; that is, for there to be a ready flow of information from the Central Committee to the various party groups on decisions taken, what CC members are doing and how they are performing so that rank and file members will know who are the good leaders and who are the non-performers. There is also a call for annual financial statements, to be audited by a recognised auditor, which must be sent to all party groups. Questions have been raised about how much money is coming into the party's coffers and how it is being spent.