THE People’s Progressive Party has to disregard the constitutional question that is in the public domain on whether a person could serve as President of the Republic of Guyana for more than two terms. This contribution ignored whether that question was settled law or not and chose to look at the dilemma of the PPP from both perspectives.
If the question is already settled law and no one can serve as President for more than two terms, (consecutive or otherwise) then this craziness that we get exposed to every day, in Parliament, in the newspapers and on television with Bharrat Jagdeo should stop right now.
On the other hand, if the question is already settled law and a person can serve as President for more than two terms, then the circus being ring-mastered by Bharrat Jagdeo should also stop right now, and here is why.

While Jagdeo was serving his two terms as President, Guyana was moving into the Digital/Information Age where it is required that participants conform to many written and unwritten rules of conduct – ethical, moral, political, cultural, social, etc. and where societies became more and more knowledge-based – and perhaps he and his party never noticed or believed that Guyana and Guyanese could choose to stand proudly in a world where things were done because they just felt right ethically, morally, politically, culturally, socially, etc.

Term limits on the presidency happen in the majority of countries around the world and of that majority, a majority have the limits on their presidency set at two terms. Exceptions are monarchies (hereditary succession), the Philippines and South Korea (among one or two others) whose presidents could only serve for one six-year and one five-year term respectively, and while a few countries have their two terms last for four, six and seven years each, the huge majority chose five years to be the standard for each of their two terms. So, for the PPP to attempt to offer Jagdeo up for the presidency of this republic for a third term would be just as insulting as when the party forced Janet down the political throats of the Guyanese People.

That raises many questions, such as who advises this political party or does the party listen to advice other than Jagdeo’s? Has he commandeered the leadership of the PPP without resistance? Has he placed members of the PPP under duress, considering that he was president twice already and was privy to any and all information? Are all the members of the PPP oblivious to their dilemma with him hanging around? Can any other member of that party say anything that makes commonsense to Guyana without offending Jagdeo? These are all serious questions that the People’s Progressive Party must address sometime soon.

And even if the constitutional question hasn’t been settled as yet, it would serve as a timely (and valid) reminder to those who advocate to extend the presidential term limit beyond two, that all Guyanese remain proud and active participants in the Digital/Information Age.
Thomas John