PRESIDENTIAL 'WHISTLING' FOR 2006
Guyana Chronicle
November 23, 2003
THERE ARE endless surprises in politics and multi-party parliamentary politics in particular. Politics is also held to be the art of the possible and the science of deals - with which some Guyanese politicians, across the political spectrum, are quite familiar.
Whatever is true, Moses Nagamootoo, a former journalist colleague, also known as a flamboyant, crafty and popular politician, currently practising law, has made a quantum leap in declaring his intention to contest the next Presidential election scheduled for 2006.
The PNC/R, under the new leadership of Robert Corbin - still very much on probation in the post-Hoyte era, and being carefully assessed by 'comrades from within', not without their own leadership ambition - may find the Nagamootoo presidential declaration a welcome diversion from its own shortcomings and internal problems that are well shielded by sympathetic media enterprises.
Nagamootoo's presidential ambition has not exactly been a secret. Nor, indeed, his deep discomfort, to put it mildly, when Bharrat Jagdeo was appointed President in August 1999, following the resignation of Mrs. Janet Jagan, due to ill-health.
The recent announcement by Nagamootoo, in a televised interview, about his presidential aspiration, would probably have come as a disappointment, but not a surprise, to President Jagdeo, who is serving his first full five-year term and constitutionally entitled to seek a second term - if he so chooses, and endorsed, as expected, by the governing People's Progressive Party (PPP).
Right now, while a Moses may be whistling in the dark, and other presidential aspirants, with hopes of leading Guyana into the "promised land" remain silent, President Jagdeo seems unfazed by the politicking, against him, the PPP and government.
At 39, Jagdeo is the youngest Head of State in the Western Hemisphere, if not the world - and currently making quite an impression among his Caribbean Community colleagues.
He had the advantage of serving for some seven years as Minister of Finance before being appointed President in the post-Jagan transition to the March 2001 general election that the PPP/Civic won for a consecutive third term.
Leadership Style
But those familiar with him, feel it is more than time that he critically review his leadership style and personal relations with cabinet and parliamentary colleagues - in the interest of his own political future and the government he leads. More later - and correct the perception of arrogance, that virus that is currently affecting at least two CARICOM heads of government now in their second term.
So far as Nagamootoo is concerned, it is doubtful if his declaration of intent to seek the presidency in 2006 would have provoked any real surprise - certainly not shock - among his "comrades" on the Executive Council or the broader Central Committee of his People's Progressive Party (PPP).
His comrade-in-arms, Khemraj Ramjattan, with whom he has been sharing chambers following his admission to practice his legal profession, has reminded readers in a very supportive article in another section of the local media, of Nagamootoo as "a consummate political animal".
Ramjattan also took the opportunity to justify his own public criticisms of the PPP, of which he is a parliamentary representative, and to revisit an earlier frustrated effort to have the PPP's constitution changed to facilitate a new approach in the selection and endorsement of the party's presidential candidate.
He could also have written in his "leadership challenges" article of Nagamootoo as an eloquent and provocative public speaker and "consummate political propagandist".
There are two Guyanese who have been involved in media communication over the years for whom I have much admiration, even though we have often had cause to disagree.
They are Kit Nascimento and Moses Nagamootoo - both former Ministers of Information in different administrations. It is better to have them near than at a distance.
It was, therefore, baffling to me that Nagamootoo was not invited to rejoin President Jagdeo's cabinet, in whatever capacity, if not again as Minister of Information, once he had qualified as a lawyer and indicated his interest to serve in the government.
The fact that he had twice resigned as Minister of Information, first under the late Cheddi Jagan, and secondly under the Jagdeo presidency to pursue studies to become a lawyer, is another matter.
Now, he may well have shot himself in the foot by going public in the manner he did, and this early, in declaring his candidature for president in 2006. He would know what a daunting challenge he has invited by his irrepressible ambition for the highest office in the land.
Contrary, however, to current media reports and statements, Nagamootoo was never known to have been in the running either as successor to Cheddi Jagan, following the death of the PPP's founder-leader, or as a Vice-President while Janet Jagan, the party's indefatigable matriarch, was Head of State.
It would be strange, if true, that the very experienced widow of Cheddi Jagan would have requested Jagdeo to appoint Nagamootoo as a Vice-President when she did not do so during her period as President.
Ralph Ramkarran
The so-called "dark horse" as a potential President, and who may yet so emerge ahead of the "presidential pack" for the 2006 election with the endorsement of the PPP - should Jagdeo decide against seeking another term - is, and has always been, Ralph Ramkarran, a Senior Counsel, long standing stalwart of the party and current Speaker of the National Assembly.
Ramkarran himself is quite wisely keeping his silence about such a likely development of being recruited, if necessary, as the PPP's next presidential candidate. The party would, naturally, be very careful in its strategy for the 2006 election, not to undermine the Jagdeo presidency.
There should be no confusion about Nagamootoo's right and legitimacy to seek endorsement as his party's presidential candidate.
And experienced combatant and politically cunning as he is, it may be better for him to be embraced, with whatever level of reservations, than to be excluded and kept at a distance.
Nagamootoo himself would also be aware of how counter-productive it could be for him and the PPP/C should presidential ambitions run amok ahead of 2006.
In terms of the politics of inclusion and fostering of a team spirit for improved governance, President Jagdeo would be required, according to some of his own colleagues, to demonstrate more flexibility and less arrogance in his leadership style.
As a protege of his legendary mentor, Cheddi Jagan, he needs to reflect, they say, on how he deals with even cabinet colleagues. If he is not hearing the criticisms, then he may simply be too preoccupied with his heavy workload, or obsessed with his own opinions.
What is of relevance, at this stage of the presidential game, where Nagamootoo is concerned, is the nature of the politics he intends to pursue, knowing that endorsement for him would hardly be forthcoming from either the PPP's Executive Council or Central Committee.
He would be aware - as a former Attorney General of a previous PPP administration, Fenton Ramsahoye, once amusingly observed, that the party, one of the oldest and best organised - warts and all - in CARICOM, "behaves in mysterious ways its wonders to perform".
Neither the PPP nor the PNC has the tradition of a party congress, special or regular, determining the choice of who leads the party into a general election.
If Nagamootoo, therefore, cannot win decisive endorsement from either the Executive Council or the Central Committee as a presidential candidate, then he and those, like Ramjattan, routing for changes to the party's constitution for a pre-election special congress to deal with the issue of potential presidential candidates, have an enormous challenge to confront.
It is early days yet, but this columnist is willing to risk the possibility of being proven wrong, by declaring that such a constitutional change for endorsement to facilitate Nagamootoo - or any other potential candidate for the presidency - remains wishful thinking, certainly for 2006.
In the meanwhile, there seems to be sufficient time and space for the contending elements to find a politically correct accommodation - assuming there is such an interest.
Alternatively, face the possibility of a level of internal political strife that could explode on the national scene with the fatal consequences suffered by the United National Congress in Trinidad and Tobago with a dangerous mix of thick layers of egoism, political arrogance and opportunism.
**With an overdue cabinet reshuffle, as well as long expected changes in the hierarchy of key national institutions - among them the Central Bank of Guyana - readers should follow in subsequent columns developments as they unfold.