A book review by Christopher Ram – May 5, 2024
Introduction
This third part of Dear Land of Guyana, anautobiographical account by Moses V. Nagamootoo, Prime Minister of Guyana from 2015-2020, covers chapters 7 to 16. Chapter 7 begins with the tabling of a motion of a no confidence motion against the minority PPP government, moved by the AFC which had seven seats in the National Assembly. Nagamootoo does not claim a joint action, but only that the AFC counted on the support of the APNU’s 26 seats. According to him, the action was taken when corruption became pervasive in Guyana. Instead of facing the charges in the National Assembly, President Ramotar’s response was the prorogation of parliament, after his approach to opposition leader David Granger to back off from the no confidence motion was rebuffed.
Chapter 8 relates the country’s history of searching for a Pro-democracy Alliance beginning in the mid-1970s and developing steam when the opposition parties came together in the preparation for the 1992 elections. The writer also gives a background to engagements between the PPP and the WPA which had earlier entered the anti-dictatorship struggle. According to the book, a sticking point in that effort was the WPA’s refusal to back an Indian candidate, especially Cheddi Jagan. The search for a consensus candidate continued with other names like Dr. Roger Luncheon, Ashton Chase and Bishop Randolph George.
The Cummingsburg Accord
An account is given of the events leading up to the PPP adding a civic component to its name, even while private talks with the PNC continued. The author claims that even after the assassination of WPA leader Walter Rodney in 1980, he favored continuing those talks while Dr. Jagan was opposed. The rest of the chapter addresses the debates and discussions within the AFC on an alliance with the APNU and overcoming the fears that such an alliance would render the AFC “dead meat.” Nagamootoo placed himself among the AFC fighters countering the PPP’s “propaganda” that any pro-democratic alliance would be bad for Guyana. After protracted inter-party talks not only on a national programme, but mundane matters like which party would secure the position of presidential candidate, and equal sharing of cabinet positions, the AFC and the APNU on a4 February 2015 signed the Cummingsburg Accord, an exercise spearheaded by a Jamaican consultant.
The broad plans for the Coalition included constitutional reforms that could accommodate the broadest possible unity of competing and otherwise antagonistic political entities, zero tolerance for corruption, transparency, accountability, and probity at all levels. The response by the PPP/C was “nasty and brutal” propaganda: the AFC was selling out to the Africans; finding derogatory names for perceived sympathisers like Yesu Persaud, Robert Badal, Anand Goolsarran and Christopher Ram.
Nagamootoo himself does not hesitate to trade his own barbs, identifying Peter Ramsaroop, Kit Nascimento (former UF propaganda czar), Mansoor Nadir, Nanda Gopaul (Jagan’s effigy burner) and Dr. Leslie Ramsammy who had vowed to run “the communist Jagan” out. Also mentioned for their association with the PPP/C in quite unflattering terms were Khemraj Lall, Sonny Ramdeo, Fip Motilall and specialty hospital promoter Surendra.
Instant sell
Chapter 10 describes the reception leading up to the elections on 11 May 2015, the instant sell of the Granger/Nagamootoo combination and his first meeting with Granger when they were both in short pants. Describing Granger’s Speech at the launching of the Alliance as “nothing short of visionary,” Nagamootoo wrote that the reception at the Launch convinced him that the Coalition’s victory on May 11th “was assured”. In what was seen as an alignment of the stars, Dr. Joey Jagan and Ms. Ulele Burnham also appeared on the Coalition platform. The chapter also reproduced a letter from Joey Jagan on the day before the elections setting out his reasons for supporting the Coalition. The book also talks about incidents like the killing of Courtney Crum-Ewing and another Fazal Azeez, both in a narrative that suggested political involvement.
Three days after the vote on 11 May 2015, the Alliance was declared the winners with 50.30% of the votes and gaining a one seat majority while the PPP/C obtained thirty-two seats and challenged the results.
Chapter 12 recounted the events from the swearing in on 16 May 2015, for the first time at the Parliament Buildings. The Government was made up of sixteen Cabinet ministers and nine junior ministers, huge for a country with a population of less than three-quarter million. Those numbers of course were partly driven by the Cumminsburg Accord. Signaling his first discomfort with Granger, Nagamootoo described an early speech by Granger in which he referred to the murders in the sixties. According to him, Granger’s better self was telling him to let go, but “he didn’t, he couldn’t.” The writer also uses the chapter to explain the delegation to him of the chairmanship of Cabinet’s Business Session, the powerful Cabinet Business Sub-committee and of the Parliamentary Agenda Sub-committee.
Chapters 13 and 14 begin with the statement that the Coalition served a full five years in government during 2015 to 2020. That was only because of a spurious protracted challenge to the No Confidence Motion brought by the PPP/C and supported by an AFC MP. Nagamootoo deals with the huge increase which Cabinet voted itself on the one hand and the achievements it made on the other. They also described the activities and challenges of Government confronted by an opposition whose leader when in Government had raised concerns in a statement that “his regime was prepared inexplicably to cede a channel for Venezuela’s access to the Atlantic, and through the pathway of our enormous oil deposits.”
The book narrates the challenges of power supply and the crisis in the sugar industry, described at some length in chapter 15. The Government’s response was the closure of several sugar estates with the intention of privatising parts of the industry. This was hugely controversial, especially with sugar unions. Over 5,000 sugar workers were laid off without timely severance payments. The handling of the sugar industry matter probably accounted for the Coalition’s loss of power in less than a full term. This was a gift to the PPP/C, which had run the industry like an extension of the Party, but which gained immensely from the botched manner in which the Coalition tried to fix the problem.
In Chapter 16, Nagamootoo recounts the fall on the Coalition, which he saw as a “tit for tat response to his no confidence motion in 2015 and a bitter vendetta for his resignation from the PPP”. Readers will also recall that in Part 1 of this review, I had referred to a conspiracy theory that the plan may have been connected with a meeting in India!
In closing chapter 16, Nagamootoo states that despite mistakes on all sides, disagreements and quarrels, the Coalition made credible achievements that could ensure their return to the office for a second term. However, new factors contributed to their defeat and ouster at the elections, including campaign failures, which he claims were self-inflicted, and foreign intervention which was by invitation.