Guyana did better under Jagdeo’s presidency

Dear Editor,
Much has been said since Charles Ramson Jnr declared that he would be running for the position of PPP/C presidential candidate. I must note that his doing so was with a great level of ‘confidence’ – some would say arrogance – and I do not agree with him on trying to decide who his competitors should be when he went through his list of qualities in a candidate.
But that aside, the issue, Editor, is whether he is the right person for the job.  To this question I must say no. Why? Simply because he has no experience in management; no executive experience.
Editor, Guyana, in the past seven years, has had two presidents without Government experience – Donald Ramotar and President David Granger. Neither of them served Guyanese well. The PPP/C and APNU/AFC debates internally on this issue are another matter, particularly relative to acknowledging and confronting this fact.
Much has been said about past president Bharrat Jagdeo.  Now he cannot run for a third term, but there are lessons in the process that led to him being chosen as the PPP/C presidential candidate in 2001 and 2006.  The fact is that he was a Junior Finance Minister, then a Senior Finance Minister. He was in Cabinet and he had served in the public service before his ministerial posts.  When he was elected as President, he had experience in both the public service and executive management.   At the PPP level, he was also a member of the Party’s Central Committee, and later the Executive Committee.
Charles Ramson Jnr, on the other hand, is not a member of the PPP Central Committee. He has no significant experience in the public service.  He has no experience in Government management. He never served in Cabinet.  He has no executive experience.  What is the worst that could happen if he allowed himself to work up to these things?
Look at the presidencies of Ramotar and Granger against Jagdeo’s.  It is true that the debates – both the factual one and those that border on the illogical – which have been playing out in the letter pages of the newspapers about Jagdeo will continue. But the facts will not change.  When you look at the big picture, what we saw under a Jagdeo presidency (the debatable points aside) was a better Guyana. Guyanese did better. The country did better. Guyana was put on the map for certain major issues, including climate change.  As I said before, the debates on the man can continue, but the facts – the numbers on economic growth, wealth creation, housing progress, etc. – will not change.
I say all of this to back up my point: Charles Ramson Jr. is young; yes, he is ambitious, and he projects himself as a leader; but the fact is that he has no executive experience, and that is much needed.
We do not want to re-live the pitfalls we saw under the Ramotar presidency. Nor do we want a repeat of what we are seeing now, which is a badly performing economy, no jobs, more crime, big borrowing, wasting of taxpayers’ dollars, and increase in the costs that regular Guyanese, like me, have to pay.
Charles Ramon Jnr needs to give himself some more time; earn some experience, and maybe then he will have a better appreciation for what it takes to manage the Presidency.
At the end of the day, even if the PPP/C says it will push young people into leadership positions, Guyanese still need to know that they have a dependable leader.

Sincerely,
Erin Northe