Tag Archives: PNC

Guyana Politics – EXPLOITING THE SENTIMENTS OF THE ELECTORATE – By Ralph Ramkarran

January 17, 2019 – 12:38 am

Ralph Ramkarran

SHARED GOVERNANCE

Conversation Tree Blog – January 12, 2019  – by Ralph Ramkarran

In a lengthy article written in 2011 before the general elections of that year, for “Freedom House” on “Countries at the Crossroads 2011: Guyana,” Assistant Professor Joan Mars, of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice of the University of Michigan-Flint, said: “Elections are constitutionally due to be held in 2011.

Calls by the political opposition for shared governance have not been endorsed by the ruling PPP/C administration headed by President Jagdeo; with its consistent absolute majority in parliament, the PPP/C has had little incentive to agree to share power, but the idea may be gathering momentum as a major rallying point in the forthcoming elections.“ Assistant Professor Mars, a former practising lawyer in Guyana, concluded: “The current system of majority rule should be reformed to provide for a power-sharing model that is representative of the ethnic diversity in the population.           Continue reading →

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Guyana: The Government’s Fall Was Always A Distinct Possibility – by Ralph Ramkarran

December 23, 2018 – 12:03 am

Ralph Ramkarran

Posted on December 22, 2018 – by Ralph Ramkarran – Conversation Tree Blog

What transpired in the National Assembly on Friday evening was always a distinct possibility, with the Government’s one seat majority. Election results mean something. In 2011, the electorate told the PPP/C that it wants that party to join in a coalition to manage the affairs of the nation. The PPP/C ignored the message. The electorate removed it from office in 2015. Then it proceeded to give the APNU+AFC coalition a mere one seat majority.

This conveyed another message – that the APNU+AFC coalition government should proceed cautiously and engage with the Opposition.             Continue reading →

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Cheddi Jagan’s Contribution to Guyana’s Independence – By Ralph Ramkarran

May 24, 2016 – 12:12 am

CHEDDI JAGAN’S CONTRIBUTION TO GUYANA’S INDEPENDENCE

Posted on May 21, 2016 by
Ralph Ramkarran

Ralph Ramkarran

Inspired by events that were occurring in the wider world and influenced by progressive views while he was a student in the United States, Dr. Cheddi Jagan returned to Guyana in 1943, then British Guiana, intent on becoming politically involved on behalf of the poor and disadvantaged. He chose the trade union movement as an entrance point. Ashton Chase and Jocelyn Hubbard, both trade unionists, were sought out to join with him and Janet Jagan to form the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) on November 6, 1946, as a study and discussion group.

Branches emerged in various places including Kitty, Buxton and Enmore. My father, Boysie Ramkarran, joined the Kitty Group in 1947. Ashton Chase, at the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the PAC said that my father was the Secretary of that group. Eusi Kwayana was active in the Buxton group.   Continue reading →

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Guyana Politics: Things to do on a Honeymoon – by Ralph Ramkarran

July 20, 2015 – 3:29 am
Ralph Ramkarran

Ralph Ramkarran

Things to do on a Honeymoon

Posted on July 18, 2015 – by Ralph Ramkarran – Conversation Tree Blog

It is only fair that the traditional honeymoon period of three months of the new APNU+AFC administration be exhausted before its performance is assessed. The Government has a plan against which a judgment will be made. It is called the hundred-day programme. Little is heard of it nowadays but we, the people, who are intended to be its beneficiaries, are looking forward anxiously to its fulfillment.

The public is not familiar with the inner workings of Governments and we acknowledge that urgent events are demanding attention. Last week it was the heavy rains and flooding which required top priority – a 4 am Cabinet meeting. It is not known if all Ministers were able to make it.   Continue reading →

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THE FALL OF THE PPP – by Ralph Ramkarran

May 25, 2015 – 6:51 am

 THE FALL OF THE PPP

Ralph Ramkarran

Ralph Ramkarran

Posted on May 23, 2015 – by Ralph Ramkarran

The PPP’s boast has always been that it never lost elections. While it gained the highest votes in 1964, it was the PNC that was invited to form the government, which it did in coalition with the United Force. The slogan of ‘cheated not defeated’ resounded through the decades. The slogan is once again rearing its head.

The claim that it lost as a result of fraud allows it to maintain the delusion, for the benefit of its supporters, that it has never lost elections. This also serves to protect its leaders and policies from critical analysis and corrective action and revive its historic claims to victimology, now of an openly posturing ethnic political entity, to sustain the sympathy of its innocent supporters against the tribal hordes. Continue reading →

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Eusi Kwayana: A Guyanese Political Legend turns 90 – By Dr. David Hinds

April 4, 2015 – 1:57 pm

Eusi Kwayana: A Guyanese Political Legend turns 90

By Dr. David Hinds

eusi Kwayana -in 2014

Eusi Kwayana -in 2014

 Today, April 4, 2015, Eusi Kwayana turns 90. It is difficult to properly analyze modern Guyanese politics without taking into consideration Eusi Kwayana’s wide ranging contributions. His political career has spanned the seven decades, which mirrors the period normally referred to as the modern phase of Guyanese and Caribbean politics. This article pays tribute to Kwayana by offering an overview of his political life and work.

Political Biography

Eusi Kwayana, formerly Sydney King, was born 1925 and has been involved in Guyana’s national politics since 1947.He has been referred to as the “Sage of Buxton,”“Renaissance Man”and “Guyana’s Gandhi,” among other descriptions. He is multi-faceted– political activist, educator, writer, journalist, dramatist, folklorist and historian. But it is as a political activist that Kwayana has made his most telling contribution. He has become one of Guyana’s most distinguished political leaders. Ironically, he has also been one of the most controversial and misunderstood public personalities.   Continue reading →

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Guyana: The PPP should embrace Constitutional Reform – By Ralph Ramkarran

March 10, 2015 – 8:10 am

THE PPP SHOULD EMBRACE CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM

Posted on March 7, 2015 by  in conversationtree.gy 

Ralph Ramkarran

Ralph Ramkarran

This month the PPP celebrates the life of Cheddi Jagan. In preparing to face the electorate, the party will be today invoking his legacy at Babu John. The electioneering mode that will dominate the proceedings and atmosphere at Babu John will seek to build enthusiasm and momentum, which are critical in the electoral battleground of the Corentyne, whose voting may decisively influence the outcome of the elections, as it did in 2011. To recover the votes it lost in 2011 in the Corentyne, the public can expect a colourful rally with robust verbal assaults on the APNU+AFC alliance.

The PPP could have been facing the electorate in completely different circumstances. Displaying a woeful lack of foresight, it sat back and allowed its opponents to unite, rather than keeping them competing for influence, as they had been doing after the elections. The exposure of the Government/Granger Linden electricity deal by the AFC in 2012 comes to mind. Now, the APNU+AFC political alliance threatens the PPP’s hold on political power.   Continue reading →

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Alliances and Compromises in Guyana’s Politics – By Ralph Ramkarran

February 24, 2015 – 12:38 am

Alliances and Compromises in Guyana’s Politics

Ralph Ramkarran

   Ralph Ramkarran

By Ralph Ramkarran – February 21, 2015 conversationtree.gy blog

The Cummingsburg Accord is only the latest in the history of alliances in Guyana’s post-war politics. The PPP emerged out of informal class and ethnic alliances in 1950. The PNC-UDP sought to merge African working and middle classes in the 1950s, with some resistance. The ‘moderate’ PNC came together with the ‘right wing’ UF in 1964. The opposition formed the little known VLD (Vanguard for Liberation and Democracy) in the late 1970s and the PCD in 1985, which comprised groups of differing ideological persuasions. The WPA emerged out of an alliance of several left/radical groups.

The PPP sought to engage the PNC by ‘critical support’ in 1976. In 1977 the PPP offered to sacrifice the presidency and take the second spot of prime minister in a new constitutional formula outlined in the National Patriotic Front in the interests of national unity. It was the epitome of political magnanimity in Guyana’s modern political history. The PPP saw working class unity and the strengthening of the left trend initiated by the PNC Government, as the outcome. It was rejected.   Continue reading →

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From the Diaspora… OLD HABITS HARD TO DIE – By Ralph Seeram

August 4, 2014 – 5:46 am

From the Diaspora… OLD HABITS HARD TO DIE

AUGUST 3, 2014 | BY  –  By Ralph Seeram

ballot boxIt was like an excursion; busloads of PNC supporters travelling from poll station to poll station in Berbice to vote. There was much merriment; everybody was so happy committing election fraud. But who could object, the entire electoral process was controlled by the PNC. It was blatant for all to see that the election was being rigged.

I had suggested to some friends not to waste their time to go voting as they have already voted. Many persons approached me saying they were turned away at the voting booth because they had voted already. On the Corentyne, PPP supporters were desperately trying to ensure that their representatives accompanied the ballot boxes. We know that some were murdered by GDF soldiers in that process.   Continue reading →

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RODNEY COI, Opening a “Can of Worms” for the PNC

May 4, 2014 – 11:57 pm

FROM THE DIASPORA … RODNEY COI, OPENING A “CAN OF WORMS” FOR THE PNC

MAY 4, 2014 | BY  | By: RALPH SEERAM

The PNC is worried, very worried, and has every right to be worried about disclosures emanating from the Rodney Commission of Inquiry; not that it’s anything new to older folks in Guyana and those in the Diaspora like myself.  They have for good and selfish reasons to worry about what more than half the voting population in Guyana is now learning about a period of Guyana’s history that they never experienced.

Today you read about how the PPP is undemocratic; how it’s a dictatorship, and to be honest some of the PPP behaviour brought this on. However young Guyanese are now learning what a true dictatorship was under the PNC, what a real police state Guyana was under PNC rule.  Continue reading →

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