Dear Editor,

I AM intrigued by the way Charles Ramson Jr. has chosen to thrust himself into the spotlight to announce his bid to be the presidential candidate of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) in the next general elections.

Nothing is wrong with Ramson Jr. having this ambition, but it is great fun to see him trying to do so by kicking aging PPP stalwarts out to pasture, parading his party’s dirty laundry in public and blatantly disrespecting persons older than what he calls his “Generation”.

In his zeal to seize the reins of the troubled PPP, a few important things seem to have slipped Junior’s mind. One of the foremost is that it is politically expedient for presidential aspirants to say what they mean and mean what they say.

When PPP General-Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo pointedly criticised Ramson Jr.’s public push for presidency, Junior vaulted onto his high horse and, from his lofty perch, declared that he would not deign to indulge in tit-for-tat politics with the man many people call ‘BJ”.

Then he proceeded to do exactly that by unleashing several eye-opening ‘tats’ in response to Jagdeo’s ‘tits’. He alluded to “childish” comparisons and dropped broad hints about corruption during his time in the PPP. He also thundered that he fears no man, he only fears God.

If you are afraid of no man, Mr. Ramson Jr., why are you damaging the PPP with allusions to corruption that you seem to know about? If you have something to say, if you have valuable information, if you have strong views on party matters, then put it on the table with evidence.

We want to know. Don’t come at us loose-lipped, spewing ‘gossipy’ allusions and say that you are flying too high to indulge in tit-for-tat politics. Your approach reeks of tit-for-tat politics; so speak up or shut up.

Defending yourself is not tit-for-tat politics. You are entitled to defend yourself and it is better to do so intelligently. Deal straight up with the facts of what has been said about you, instead of resorting to scandal-tinged hints about possible skullduggery by others in your party.

Ramson Jr. also seems to be promoting a perverse idea that “youthfulness” is the sole reservoir of fresh ideas. As he continues to pummel this drum, older members of the electorate cannot help being edgy about how they will fit in and be treated if he ever leads this country.

Many who are older than Ramson Jr. are savvy enough to know that youthfulness is not the ‘be it all and end it all’ of ‘leadership and great ideas. If Ramson Jr. intends to use ‘younger-is-better’ as a pillar of his political campaign, he runs the risk of alienating legions of older voters.

He warned that by engaging his generation (he spelt it with a capital G) in a political process, means that everyone must be prepared to accept that they will be bringing “fresh ideas, beliefs and way of doing things…”

According to Junior, his (G)eneration respects customs and stands firmly for freedom, justice, openness, and fairness. I assume that 34-year-old Ramson Jr. is at the upper end of his (G)eneration. Is he saying that his elders do not embrace these virtues and stand for them?

Perhaps he nodded off during history lessons or he would know quite well that his (G)eneration does not have the patent on freedom, justice, openness, fairness, or rebel instincts for that matter.

In his wide readings, did he miss masses of literature on the politics of Malcolm X, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Booker T. Washington, Lech Wa??sa, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks and more?

Right here at home, we have Freddie Kissoon in his 60s who fights daily for those same rights. Others who might not have made Ramson Jr.’s age cut include Walter Rodney, Eusi Kwayana, H.N. Critchlow, Slave Leader Kofi, and expatriate Father Bernard Darke, who died for his cause.

History is riddled with people of all ages who have rebelled against the systems, because their ideas were different and they knew there was a better way, a way that stood firmly in the interest of freedom, justice, openness and fairness.

All the people who set the pace and further enhanced developments to bring medicine, agriculture, technology, science, astronomy and all these things to the point they are today, had fresh ideas for ways of approaching their respective fields and improving our existence.

It was a completely fresh idea to end apartheid; another fresh idea to insist on being allowed to sit at the front of the bus. Wanting equality for all people; wanting to fly; inventing the light bulb; developing medicines to kill bacteria; these were all fresh ideas from people of all ages.

It is commendable to achieve much while one is still youthful. There are persons within political parties in Guyana who started young and sat there for decades. As time went by, it became apparent that they had lost sight of their cause.

Many stopped serving the people and served themselves. Their youthful idealism was strangled by a web of confrontation, cover-ups, accusations, corruption and manipulations. Their cause became lost within an abyss of venom, hate, cover-ups, corruption and diatribe.

Now, Ramson Jr. is promising “young, fresh and credible” leadership. Can leadership only be credible if it is young and “fresh”? At what age are people incapable of coming up with “fresh” ideas? I am in my late 40s; should I just roll over and be engulfed by this wave of ‘freshness’?
I wonder how included all those older sugar workers, rice farmers and other traditional supporters of the PPP will feel as this wonderful wave of youthful freshness is poised to engulf us. Do they really think that their ideas for national development are outdated and irrelevant?

If Ramson Jr.’s bandwagon continues to roll, will there be room in the gallery of freshness for the ideas of people born earlier than the mid-1980s? Will their ideas be accepted, or will they be ignored because they came from older minds than those of Ramson Jr.’s (G)eneration?

How young and fresh were the minds of PPP icons Dr. Cheddi Jagan and his wife Janet Jagan, when they were elected to lead Guyana in the 1990s? As someone who grew up in the bosom of the PPP, would Junior say they were old, decrepit and bereft of good, innovative ideas?

We make decisions and contribute to debates looking through the prism of race and power and whatever other self-serving motives we may have. Our country is overwhelmed by this. What is Ramson Jr.’s plan to fix it? Let us know and be specific. We need ideas with substance.

As an aspiring political leader, Ramson Jr. ought to learn the importance of thinking carefully before he speaks, and couching his words to appeal to a wide cross-section of potential voters. He should think twice about alienating the older and wiser folk. He will definitely need them.

Regards
Annie Stewart