THERE is a lot of talk about confusion in the PPP’s camp over the selection of Irfaan Ali as the party’s presidential candidate. The Political Teacher checked with his contacts in the PPP and they confirmed that there are indeed deep divisions in the party over Ali and over Jagdeo’s continued iron control of the party and the process.

Many in the PPP’s leadership think that Irfaan is a political lightweight who does not deserve to hold the top spot. In a weird way, it seems as if Jagdeo believes that too, as he refuses to let Ali be his own man.

The PPP is a strange party though. It is known for these open disagreements only to close ranks in the interest of party and race. Remember, many of them were opposed to Jagdeo but, unlike Nagamootoo, Ramkarran and Ramjatttan, they all stayed and took the blows. Then they were opposed to Donald Ramotar, but again they all stayed. When they lost the 2015 elections, they blamed Ramotar and ostracized him. Now Ramotar is the biggest party defender. Strange things from a strange party.

I don’t think they would close ranks around Irfaan because, to be fair, Ali is no Ramotar or Jagdeo. He, Ali, can’t speak up for himself. He is embroiled in the certificate thing that is not going away. He seems to have a poor grasp of traditional party doctrine and worse of all, he doesn’t understand policy. He also , perhaps to his credit, is not a racial ideologue—racial dog whistle does not come naturally to him. The point is, he is out of place as the PPP leader. I can bet they would let him fall under the bus.

Really, the other leaders should be pointing fingers at Jagdeo for the debacle. But they all seem to be afraid of him. The truth is that Jagdeo is the most popular PPP leader. The base loves him because he is always in the Coalition’s face. But his strength is his weakness. There is a type of PPP supporter that cannot take Jagdeo’s aggressive attitude—they think his politics is too crude. So they are between a rock and a hard place.

It is said that Anil Nandlall and Frank Anthony are the two contenders if they take the thing away from Irfaan Ali. But Anil is considered to be too politically untamed for Jagdeo’s liking. Maybe Jagdeo sees some of himself in Anil. The teacher was told that Jagdeo would have none of Anil. As far as Anthony is concerned, he is said to be too close to the party’s old timers. And it is well known that Jagdeo can’t take that Rohee-Ramotar old Jaganite crowd.
So, the party is in confusion, which may be good for the Coalition. The Political Teacher actually likes Comrade Gail for the top spot. She is bright and a Jagdeo loyalist. So, she is in the wrong camp, of the wrong sex and perhaps the wrong colour for a party that is dominated by Indian Guyanese males. Talking about males, it is felt that the party would do its usual election ritual and name an African Guyanese as the window dresser. The most talked-about candidate is ex-soldier Phillips, now that Nigel Hinds has been bought over by the ‘hotel man’.

But if I were Lumumba and Sam Hinds and the few Blacks in the PPP’s leadership. I would oppose Phillips—where did he come from all of a sudden? He might have been a PPP man all the time, but he never took blows for the party. I say to my PPP friends: Say No to Irfaan and Mark Phillips.