…says Joey Jagan as he urges support for coalition

Dr. CHEDDI “Joey” Jagan Jnr, while maintaining that the ideologies of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) have significantly changed from what they were under his father, has called on Guyanese to reject the Bharrat Jagdeo-led party as he threw his support behind the six-party coalition, A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) for a second term in office.

Dr. Jagan is the son of Dr. Cheddi Jagan and Janet Jagan, two past presidents. It was Dr. Jagan, who co-founded the PPP in 1950 with Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham – the country’s first Executive President. However, Dr. Jagan and Burnham broke ties resulting in the formation of the People’s National Congress (PNC) in 1957 by the latter. Dr. Jagan jr, while acknowledging that his father was a Marxist-Leninist, said his father also believed in the principles of Mahatma Gandhi, and as such rejected corruption and nepotism. “My father has never committed any acts of corruption or nepotism…Even though he was a Marxist-Leninist, he also had a tradition of Gandhism in him,” Dr. Jagan said during an interview on Guyana Chronicle’s online programme – Vantage Point, on Tuesday. For him, his father was a fair, simple and an upright man. The Dentist and Politician said under the leadership of Bharrat Jagdeo, the PPP/C has seen a steady decline in values. Jagdeo served as President of Guyana from 1999 to 2011, and emerged as the Leader of the Opposition in 2015, after the PPP/C was defeated at the General and Regional Elections that year.

It was under the leadership of Jagdeo, Dr. Jagan pointed out that the party lost some of its stalwarts such as Moses Nagamootoo, Khemraj Ramjattan and Ralph Ramkarran. “They drove these leaders out,” he emphasised while iterating that the PPP today is not the same party that existed under the leadership of his father. “The party has changed – the humility my father preached; the way he lived his life; no tolerance for any kind of corruption or even worse, if you claim that you are not corrupted, there is a perception in the population that you are corrupt, that’s just as important,” he said.

During his presidency, Jagdeo was accused of engaging in corrupt practices which resulted in the crime spiraling out of control. Now as the Leader of the Opposition and General Secretary of the PPP/C, he is the main force behind Irfaan Ali’s candidature as presidential candidate. Ali is currently facing 19 fraud charges for allegedly defrauding the State of over $174M, and has also been accused of falsifying his qualifications. In the High Court Dianna Deravinee Rajcumar and Phillip Marcus – two citizens are seeking clarification on Ali’s qualification, which they alleged might be false. According to the PPP/C Presidential Candidate, he secured a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Planning from the Business College, West Demerara Chamber.

Dr. Jagan said while supporters are cognizant of the failures of the PPP/C, during elections, many Guyanese sadly vote along racial lines. This he said is true for both the PPP and the PNC. “I’ll give you an example: if Mr. [David] Granger was an Indian, and they only had Indians living in Guyana, Mr Granger wouldn’t even have to campaign because, by just staying in his home he would have won the next elections but because Mr Granger is an African Guyanese, some people get carried away by emotions and politicians feed that emotions,” Dr. Jagan reasoned.

He said while the PPP and PNC have largely attracted electors who vote along racial lines, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC), under the leadership of President David Granger, has initiated the process of correcting this age-old issue.

“I am urging young people of all races to forget about race, race can’t get us anywhere; it never did and it never will. We have to look at this election and forget about race, and look at what is at stake, and what is at stake is looking at the contenders you have and evaluating them to their integrity, honesty, commitment, their record…,” he pleaded.
Coalition is the way to go

Dr. Jagan noted that it was the coming together of the APNU and the AFC that caused him to throw his support behind the coalition in 2015, after endorsing the PPP in 2011. “My father believed in coalition governance, that we must share the power and work together. He believed in that, they (the PPP), don’t believe in that, they want one power rule. We don’t want no one party rule,” he told this newspaper.

He said contrary to the PPP/C, the coalition comprises a total of six parties – People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R), the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), the Justice for All Party, the National Front Alliance (NFA), the Guyana Action Party (GAP) and the Alliance for Change (AFC) – and is a representation of shared governance. Dr. Jagan reasoned that all the parties, despite the variation in size, are raking in support for the coalition as they use their influence on the ground. Importantly, he said the coming together of the parties allow for a diversity in views, policies and programmes.

The pro-capitalist politician said since the APNU+AFC coalition took office in May, 2015 he is satisfied with the progress made in the development of the country, and the push to raise the standard of living of regular Guyanese. He said with the production of oil and gas in Guyana, there should be greater focus on human development. “We need to help the people of this country to uplift themselves, when they uplift themselves, everybody will be uplifted,” he posited.

Though he is backing the coalition for the March 2 Election, Dr. Jagan said the coalition could do more to arrest crime in the country, and support the sugar workers who were displaced as a result of the closure of a number of estates. He noted too that the internal problems between the APNU and the AFC should not have been made public as they were during the revision of the Cummingsburg Accord.
Nonetheless, he is lobbying Guyanese to return the APNU+AFC coalition by a landslide victory.