PPP bodies in East Berbice have endorsed the expulsion of Khemraj Ramjattan from the party and are calling for his resignation from parliament.
"...The Regional Commit-tee (Crabwood Creek to Mara) and Activists demand that Khemraj Ramjattan tender his resignation as a Member of Parliament representing our geographic region given our loss of confidence in him as a Parliamentary Representative for Region Six. The Party['s] Executive Committee is urged to take all necessary steps to ensure Khemraj Ramjattan vacates the Parliamentary seat of our Party that he is now illegally and immorally holding on to," the resolution states. It was moved by E. Chickrie, seconded by N. N. Loaknauth and supported by 78 members.
But Ramjattan, said yesterday afternoon he was not surprised: "...in its moment of crisis, [the PPP leadership] will bear down like a mad bull utilising its tremendous propaganda and party machinery to demolish even the most innocuous and innocent of persons. It simply reflects that the PPP leadership are a wounded lot, particularly those who moved to expel me, and they are striking out ferociously but very erroneously."
He said his determination to retain his parliamentary seat and rationalise his position to party supporters remained unshaken.
"I maintain that no resolution of the sort from the East Berbice bodies will change my mind about continuing to be in parliament. I respect those signatory voices and I feel they have been strayed by the version given them by those leaders who [conspired to expel] me," Ramjattan asserted.
Ramjattan said: "[The East Berbice bodies] have not heard my version or my explanation for my conduct...[The resolution represents] pre-emptive action forced upon the signatories by party leaders at Freedom House so as to [negate] the effect of my explanation to my party comrades."
Ramjattan said he planned on visiting the East Berbice district this weekend to justify his position to PPP supporters there, many of whom he asserted, have personally indicated they want him to remain a member of the party and a PPP MP.
"This just shows the reach of the party when it wants to destroy and demoralise someone. But these things are not going to destroy or demoralise Ramjattan," the lawyer declared.
The recital to the motion in support of the decision to expel noted that the PPP executive committee had on several occasions sought to persuade Ramjattan to end public attacks on the party and that on February 10 he issued a public statement accusing the General Secretary and by extension the central committee of spreading a falsehood.
Ramjattan was expelled by the Executive Committee of the PPP, by virtue of a letter he received last Friday, for publicly insisting that President Bharrat Jagdeo had accused him of leaking information to the US embassy and the media, in a January 31 meeting of the party's Central Committee.
However, Jagdeo's Infor-mation Liaison, Robert Persaud has denied Ramjattan's accusation.
It is unclear what, if any, action will be taken by the party against Moses Nagamootoo, another PPP central committee member, who had backed Ramjattan's claim in a public statement.
Efforts by this newspaper to reach Nagamootoo have been unsuccessful. (Edlyn Benfield)