Ramjattan happy proposals to be considered
Stabroek News
July 19, 2002
Khemraj Ramjattan, attorney and the lead proponent for a number of proposals including direct election of the top People's Progressive Party (PPP) leaders yesterday confirmed that these would be put to the floor of this weekend's congress.
Contacted again by Stabroek News for a comment, Ramjattan affirmed that his group had put forward these proposals and he said he was happy that they were going to be put to the congress. However, he would not comment further on the proposals and what he thought the chances were of them being implemented.
Ramjattan also wanted to make clear that he was not responsible for the report on those proposals in the Stabroek News on Monday.
The proposals by the Ramjattan group (Section K Campbellville) seeks to have three top posts for the party agreed - party leader, party chairman and general secretary - and for these persons to be elected from the congress floor. For now, the proposals say, the position of party leader should go to the President and then be vied for if anyone else wants to contest that position at upcoming general elections.
The party chairman would chair all meetings of the party whereas the general secretary would function as the chief executive officer of the party.
The proposals seek to remove the terms Marxism, Leninism and Socialism from the party constitution and to have the 15 members of the party executive council elected by congress and not the central committee. These 15 members would include the three top executives in the party.
As it stands, congress elects 35 members to the central committee which then elects 15 persons to the executive council.