SERVING as President of Guyana was acknowledged by Dr. Roger Luncheon as an aspiration he held in the lead-up to the 1997 General and Regional elections.However, the ‘speculation’ surrounding the circumstances as to why he was not endorsed by the party as its presidential candidate, remains that, speculation, according to him.

“There is much speculation, but it remains that, it remains in the realm of idle speculation,” the current Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS) said yesterday, in an invited comment.
Former member of the ruling People’s Progressive Party, Ralph Ramkarran, commented on Dr. Luncheon’s presidential bid, in a recent column.
Asked to respond to the charges made by Ramkarran, he said, “I did want to run, but the decision of the Central Committee is binding on all members. Mrs. Janet Jagan was the candidate who was endorsed. We have always had multiple candidates, this is nothing new. I think that year we had five candidates.”
He dismissed the assertion that there were sinister reasons for him not being endorsed by the leader on the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) leadership ticket in 1997.
Following precedent from 1992, the PPP/C’s prime ministerial candidate is taken from the Civic component, while its presidential candidate is taken from the PPP.
This year the trend is no different, with the incumbent Head of State, Donald Ramotar, as the presidential candidate, and former Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Elisabeth Harper, as its prime ministerial candidate.