THE Ruling Party’s prime ministerial candidate, Mrs Elisabeth Harper, has resigned as Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This disclosure was made yesterday by General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Mr Clement Rohee, who said, “My information is that she has already done so.”

Speaking at the Party’s weekly press conference held at Freedom House, he fielded questions on Harper’s selection as the incumbent Head of State’s running mate, and also stated that Harper will be active on the PPP/C’s campaign trail.

Responding to criticisms that she is not a ‘vote getter’, Rohee simply said, “Let’s wait on May 11 and see.”

He also noted that while there have been some comments to the effect that Harper is ‘not popular’, the current presidential candidate of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC), Brigadier (rtd) David Granger, is similarly not popular.

Rohee also stressed that the Party’s prime ministerial candidate is a career diplomat, and is “a very credible” individual.
PANIC AMONG THE ALLIANCE
He attributed criticisms of the Party’s selection as coming from “cynics and pessimists”, but coupled this recognition with the fact that there has also been overwhelming expression of support for her selection.

Rohee highlighted the fact that Harper’s selection seems to have spurred “panic” in the APNU/AFC alliance’s camp. “The People’s Progressive Party takes note of the serious panic in the APNU-AFC camp following the announcement that one of Guyana’s outstanding daughters, Mrs. Elisabeth Harper, is our Prime Ministerial Candidate for the May 11 general and regional elections,” he said, adding:

“It is indeed interesting to note how the announcement of Mrs Harper’s candidacy has caused pandemonium in the already unpopular and weak APNU/AFC coalition, which hurriedly strung together a press release attacking the PPP/Civic’s choice for Prime Minister Candidate….

“It is clear that, through an act of desperation, the APNU-AFC appears shell-shocked due to the fact that our Prime Ministerial candidate is an outstanding but yet humble woman, as against their power-hungry Prime Minister candidate.”

Rohee surmised that the “harsh and disparaging comments” coming from the ‘alliance’ is an effort to downplay the significance and impact of Harper’s selection, particularly as it relates to its chances at the upcoming polls.
CIVIC INVOLVEMENT
The involvement of the Party’s Civic component was also addressed at yesterday’s news conference.

Rohee explained that while former member of the Civic component Dr Henry Jeffery advocated for a greater degree of organisation among the individuals comprising this group, no such move was made.

“The Civic component is a rather loose arrangement that is associated with the PPP…. The Civic component does not have a structure; there is no leader…some people just don’t want to be in any organisation. They don’t like organizational structures…some people were not comfortable with any organizational form being given to the civic component,” he said.

Rohee disclosed that the individuals who form part of the Civic component prefer to remain members of civil society and contribute to the development of Guyana, as opposed to members of a labeled, organised grouping.
Harper, the PPP General Secretary stated, hails from civil society; and like other such persons, has an interest in contributing to the development of the country, this time from a different position.

Following precedent from 1992, the Party’s prime ministerial candidate is taken from the Civic component, while its presidential candidate is taken from the PPP.

Also, since 1992, Rohee pointed out, there has never been a meeting where members of the Civic component “sat around a table and asked the Party to agree or disagree” on a candidate.

“(What we are doing now is) no different from what we did in 1992 and all the other years that followed,” he said.

Rohee said that, as General Secretary, he recommended Harper’s selection to the PPP’s Executive Committee. “This party believes in reaching out…the PPP is not afraid of change, or of reaching out to persons in our country, to Guyanese of distinction who are prepared to serve in governmental capacity,” Rohee said.

All considered, Rohee rubbished the assertion being peddled that there is division in the PPP/C ranks. “As far as I personally am concerned, there is no rift in the PPP with respect to the Party’s selection of Harper’s candidature,” Rohee stressed.

NO SHELTERING
The PPP General Secretary also vehemently rejected the idea that the Party is “sheltering” Harper from the media.

“That is your (the media’s) word, not ours…we would like to dissociate ourselves from any indication of that sort…I take objection — to put it rather strongly and firmly – (to the assertion) that the Party is sheltering Mrs Harper,” he said.

Rohee assured that its prime ministerial candidate would make herself available to the media at the appropriate time, as she deems fit. “We are moving with our own pace, not the pace of the media…the media will have the opportunity at the appropriate time to meet with our prime ministerial candidate to have an engagement with her,” he said.

Coming from the Civic component, Harper is not a card bearing Party member. She was the only nomination made to the Party’s Executive Committee, which concluded its deliberations on the matter only minutes before the announcement was made.

The 57-year-old’s selection, announced last Saturday, gives her the distinction of being the first woman to be nominated to that post.

By Vanessa Narine

‘It is clear that through an act of desperation, the APNU-AFC appears shell-shocked, due to the fact that our prime ministerial candidate is an outstanding but yet humble woman, as against their power-hungry prime ministerial candidate’ — PPP General Secretary, Clement Rohee