Dear Editor,
THE last time I attended a PPP Congress was in 2006, at this same venue at Cotton Field Secondary School on the Essequibo Coast, where this one is being held.I joined the Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO) when I was a teenager in Lima and I was very active in the youth group. We had a boxing and judo group which used to perform free of charge for fund-raising activities at fairs for the party way back in the 1970s. I became more involved in politics when I was employed with the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) as its Field Secretary at Caricom Rice Mills Ltd in 1991. It wasn’t smooth sailing with the union, in fact, I lost my job as a time-keeper with the divested rice mills for union activity.
I was working in an underground movement to unionise the 500 workers; when I had almost completed the exercise, the company learnt that I was bringing GAWU to be the workers’ new union. The managers called me in their office and told me that they learnt that I was conducting illegal union activity on the job. Afterwards, the company terminated my service and I lost my job, but I continued to work with the workers and the union without a salary and I called several industrial strikes against the company for union recognition. Finally, the company and the Ministry of Labour decided to conduct a poll and the union was victorious, gaining 99.8 percent of the vote.
From then on, the union paid me a paltry salary of $1,500 for three days a week work until I wrote the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan who at the time was the Executive President of Guyana. I told him that I had two sons who are attending teachers’ training college and the University of Guyana and the salary was too small to keep my sons in Georgetown and give them a good education. He wrote the general-secretary, instructing him to increase my salary,which did not go down well with the general-secretary of the union; anyhow, I was given the increase, but from then on my relationship with the union was on shaky foundation until I was terminated.
I continued to be a strong supporter and activist of the party. I chaired lots of meetings and spoke on the political platform with almost every minister of the PPP. I was the first to overlook the military voting at the Anna Regina police station on the 28th September, 1992 and accompany the ballot box to Georgetown at the Elections Commission building. I did the same for the general and regional elections in October 5,1992 and the Local Government Elections in August 4,1994 and beyond, until my accident in July 20,2004. When Dr Cheddi Jagan died I saw that the party and the government were heading on a different path and would lose power one day.
I saw the true colours of this party at the Port Mourant Congress when Mr Khemraj Ramjattan was humiliated by several in the hierarchy of the party, then Mr Moses Nagamootoo and Mr Ralph Ramkarran got their share. Mr Isahak Basir and Heeralall Mohan were prevented from attending the Diamond congress. As they approached the gate they were told that they were not members of the party; so many other stalwarts got the same treatment. Then I had my share when I sent my wife and my party cards to be renewed; it was thrown on the Reliance Public Road by one of the most arrogant party organisers I have ever seen. The PPP lost all these votes and thousands more in 2015 which helped it to lose the elections. It’s good to see the opposition leader reflecting on how they can win the 2020 elections, but the truth is they were power drunk and felt that they would never lose an election, but they were wrong. The younger generation will never be taken for a ride. I doubt whether these voters whom the PPP lost will ever go back to them. Mr Isahak Basir told me if your father locks you out of his gate ,you have to seek another house and that is exactly what has happened in the May 11th 2015,elections by the PPP. People might go back to the PPP, but under young and new leadership, but it is still left to be seen if those who are disenfranchised prefer not to vote on election day, from what I am hearing.
Regards
Mohamed Khan