– says he doesn’t want to waste time dealing with ‘losers’
CERTAIN anti-PPP comments made to the press in recent days by Presidential aspirant and stalwart of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Mr. Moses Nagamootoo has been dismissed by Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo, the President of Guyana. When questioned yesterday about  Nagamootoo’s comments to the press, President Jagdeo reportedly dismissed these as nothing but attempts by Nagamootoo to gain attention.

This newspaper was reliably informed that President Jagdeo said  Nagamootoo is just in search  of attention  and that he, Jagdeo, was busy dealing with national issues and would not like to waste his time dealing with losers.

Nagamootoo, a former Information Minister and Executive Committee member of the PPP, has reportedly made some disparaging remarks to the media during which he challenged the selection process of finalizing the party’s Presidential Candidate in the lead-up to the 2011 elections.

Nagamootoo is against the party’s current use of the Executive Committee forum to help decide a presidential candidate for the 2011 elections.

On Friday January 21st, 2011, the PPP issued a statement  to the effect that the Party has been advancing its discussions on the issue of choosing a Presidential Candidate for the 2011 general and regional elections.

Five persons were identified as having expressed interest and have been nominated. These are Nagamootoo, Ralph Ramkarran, Clement Rohee, Gail Teixeira and Donald Ramotar.
These discussions have since intensified to enable an early final selection of the PPP’s Presidential Candidate.

On Wednesday, the PPP issued another statement noting that its Executive Committee is moving ahead with the process of nominating a Presidential Candidate for the 2011 elections.

According to the statement, “the interested potential presidential candidates” were given another opportunity on Tuesday last to expound on subjects such as national unity, economic policies, youth development/involvement and governance.

“Members of the Executive Committee were given the opportunity to ask questions and seek clarifications from the hopeful presidential candidates. This particular session was chaired by Executive Committee member Dr. Roger Luncheon,” the statement said.

It said too that this exercise at the level of the Executive Committee will continue as the body subsequently prepares a proposal for consideration of the Party’s Central Committee.
In an invited comment yesterday, Mr. Donald Ramotar said: “The process is going well and all the candidates have made their presentations.”
“ We have not concluded yet….we are taking our time to make the decision,” Ramotar added.

Mr. Ralph Ramkarran also shared similar sentiments with the Chronicle, when he said: “The process is going well; that is all I will say right now.”

Ms. Gail Teixeira, in a comment yesterday, also noted that the process is going “quite well”.
“We are all comrades and there is no acrimony. At the end of the day, the party is what comes first,” Teixeira said.

General and Regional elections are constitutionally due this year and President Jagdeo has assured that the elections will be held before the end of this year.
Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Dr Steve Surujbally  has also indicated that GECOM is ready to hold elections this year.