A GENERATION of politicians referred to as the old guard of the People’s Progressive Party — Donald Ramotar, Clement Rohee, Gail Teixeira, Indra Chandarpal, Clinton Collymore, Hydar Ally, Komal Chand and Roger Luncheon -– has been returned to the powerful Central Committee of the opposition People’s Progressive Party following the conclusion of that party’s 31st delegates Congress on Monday.The results of the voting, according to observers, undermine calls for reforms from the

party’s de facto leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, during his feature address at the congress opening on Saturday. Jagdeo himself, a two-term president and current opposition leader, beat the field to come in with more than 718 votes — close to one hundred more than his nearest rival, Dr. Frank Anthony, who collected 620.

Immediate past President Donald Ramotar, though managing to stay in the top five, was beaten by Anthony and Teixeira. Ramotar received 570 votes to Teixeira’s 583. Anil Nandlall, with 548 votes, also came in ahead of party General Secretary Clement Rohee, who collected 522 votes. Other party officials in the top 10 are: Ganga Persaud, with 512 votes; Irfaan Ali, with 511; Zulfikar Mustapha, 496; and Shyam Nokta, 495.

The others who make up the 35-member committee are: Indra Chandarpal, Roger Luncheon, Pauline Sukhai, Nigel Dharamlall, Dr. Vindhya Persaud, Hydar Ally, Vickram Bharrat, Dharamkumar Seeraj, Komal Chand, Colin Croal, Allister Charlie, Brian Allicock, Neil Kumar, David Armogan, Dr. Jennifer Westford, Vishwah Mahadeo, Clinton Collymore, Kwame McCoy, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, Faizal Jaffarally, Majeed Hussain, Rickey Ramdat, Claire Singh, Anand Persaud and Mitra Devi Ally.

Jagdeo told delegates on Saturday, at the congress held at Cotton Field, Essequibo Coast, that the party must reform if it is to regain power in 2020. He told the congress, the first since the party lost office less than two years ago, that Guyana has to steadfastly abide by its founding principle, which is to exclude no one based on their race, religion or gender. And on that note, in a militant tone, he declared, “We will be taking our campaign to our traditional supporters,” as well as [to] “those [who] did not support us.”

Jagdeo has said that the message of the PPP will be taken far and wide: to every street, every village and every community. “We have to be an Opposition for Guyana, not only for the PPP. We have to create space for those who did not support us; we have to be broad-minded and have a sympathetic ear to all suffering Guyanese,” he said.

He is contending that the party needs to decentralise its operations.

Meanwhile, not much has come out in regard to the deliberations at the congress, but in an editorial on Sunday, the Guyana Chronicle had said that note would have been taken of the

open advocacy by new ideologues close to Mr. Jagdeo for the PPP to abandon its politics of “tokenism”, under which a handful of prominent Afro-Guyanese has been incorporated into the electoral slate of the party, without any power or influence at the party’s leadership level. The editorial says that: “as an alternative to the so-called multi-ethnic alliance, there is a lobby for incorporation of another form of tokenism from among the strident rightwing Indian rights advocates.”

Observers believe, too, that a compromise would be made as a concession to Mr. Jagdeo, who favours a strategic partnership with the business community, especially its Indo-Guyanese component.

According to the editorial, the more immediate concern, however, would be to strengthen the lacklustre political leadership of the party, especially after the departure of key lieutenants of Cheddi Jagan, such as Ralph Ramkarran, Moses Nagamootoo and the late Navin Chandarpal.