I CANNOT allow a letter in last Sunday’s edition of the Stabroek News by my colleague, PPP/C Candidate Clinton Urling to go unchallenged. In his letter, “The PPP has to move on without Jagdeo if it is to recapture its former prestige,” it is clear to me that Mr. Urling may be positioning himself to defect from the party he recently supported, in anticipation of being offered a position in the new de facto Granger Administration. I am also disappointed that Mr. Urling seems convinced that the PPP/C lost this Election, when all evidence suggest it was rigged with the help of GECOM.Let there be no doubt that I have always respected and admired Clinton Urling’s entrepreneurial skills that have made him a successful businessman. I was pleased with his inclusion as a PPP/C Candidate, and was optimistic of him getting a ministerial position with a PPP/C victory at the polls. But I never thought of him as an opportunist until now.

Bharrat Jagdeo is undoubtedly extremely popular with those who have supported the PPP/C for many years. The gigantic crowds he attracted at meetings and rallies during the recently concluded election campaign bore testimony of this. Those party members who, according to Urling, thought Jagdeo was responsible for the party’s “defeat” are nothing but cowards who, like rats that abandon a sinking ship, sought to protect their own interest believing all to be lost.
Urling was well aware of the pressure placed on GECOM to come clean with the results and the non-cooperation of GECOM’s Chairman, Dr. Steve Surujbally and his team despite the presence of fake Statements of Polls -SOPs.
So what appeared to be “an information blackout” a day or two after the election was, I believe, an attempt by those at Freedom House to get GECOM to recount the ballot boxes before disseminating information which could have been inaccurate and misleading. Candidates were later briefed and given the opportunity to interact with the party leadership at a meeting that Urling attended. At no time did anyone “whisper and angrily criticise Jagdeo’s divisive campaign rhetoric”. Not even Clinton Urling. Are we to believe that no one there had the courage to blame Jagdeo if in fact they thought his involvement cost us the Election? I don’t think so. Bharrat Jagdeo was an asset to the campaign and I’m sure thousands of PPP supporters would concur with me. I also know one prominent PNC-APNU stalwart that supports this argument.

Clinton Urling had been courted by the APNU camp prior to the election, and many were surprised that he choose instead to join the PPP/C. It is now evident that by this letter targeting the former President, a man who is despised by the PNC-APNU-AFC, he sends a strong message that he is available and willing to serve if offered a substantial position by the new Administration. At the very least, he is protecting his business interest from the inevitable boycott that is threatened.

If Clinton Urling had any reservation about Bharrat Jagdeo’s involvement in the campaign, he should have declined his invitation to be part of the team. But with his eyes wide open, he accepted the offer to be a Candidate for the PPP/C knowing fully well that the former President was a leading Candidate with tremendous experience that the party relied on to sell its track record and to energise the base. I wager that this letter would never have been written if the PPP/C was declared victorious. This man cannot be trusted to advance or to protect the PPP/C’s interest if, God forbid, he’s asked to serve in the 11th Parliament. And President Granger should also be aware that a soldier deserting an allegiance in the heat of battle to support the enemy cannot be relied upon to show loyalty.

HARRY GILL