Forked-tongued suitors

Rushing Ralph
It was not unexpected. The AFC are in hot pursuit of Ramkarran now that he’s resigned from the PPP. But we’re still taken aback by the hypocrisy of their pleadings. Take Moses “shut-yuh-so-and-so-mouth” Nagamootoo. This is a fella who was bested by Ramkarran at every step of the way in the PPP – but burned with jealousy and dedicated his entire PPP life to ensure that if he didn’t get the Presidency, neither would Ramkarran. This attitude was so ingrained that it was pathological.
Nagamootoo talks about “legacy”. What legacy? When according to Paul Tennassee, Nagamootoo was flirting with the Justice Party circa 1964 in Berbice, the young Ramkarran was already in the trenches for the PPP. PPP was in his blood – since his father – the indomitable Boysie was a founding member of the PPP-precursor PAC in 1947 – about when Ralph was born. As a young lawyer with the most prestigious law firm of Cameron and Shephard, Ramkarran defended numerous PPP activists – including Arnold Rampersaud between 1976-1978.
Ever since Nagamootoo tried to copy-cat Ramkarran by becoming a lawyer in his dotage, did he ever defend PPP activists? Not on your life. He took on NICIL as a client and yet stabbed his client in the back as a politician. Then there are the roadblocks that he threw up in front of Ramkarran when the latter was being promoted. Who can forget in 1997, when Ramkarran was being proposed to succeed Cheddi Jagan, it was Nagamootoo who nominated Janet Jagan?
But even in his oleaginous attempt to woo Ramkarran, Nagamootoo couldn’t help bringing himself into the picture. Talking about pedigree, Nagamootoo self-servingly simpers, “Like me, Ralph has been with the PPP for literally his entire lifetime.” Then he compared himself to the man: it was the “Nagamootoo Tsunami” that is forcing the PPP to apologise and bring back Ramkarran into the party. That is because of Nagamootoo  and not Ramkarran’s own qualities or worth! What a wanker is this cuss-bud!!
Then there is Ramjattan. Ramkarran is suddenly “a distinguished gentleman”. This is a far cry from the language Ramjattan used when he accused Ramkarran of lying when the latter signed a petition along with 29 other comrades of the Central Committee denying Ramjattan’s version of the unsavoury U.S. Embassy ‘news-carrying’ episode in 2004. Then Ramkarran was a lying SOB. Ah…the compulsion to power is a powerful drug!
Losing the plot
The fallout from the Yog Mahadeo hara kiri (his version) or axing (the public’s version) continues to reverberate in the media. One reporter for the Muckraker evidently couldn’t get his report printed by the rag as a news item. They threw it in as a “letter to the press”. One doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to see where the breeze is blowing on the Muckraker’s sentiments on this GT&Tgate scandal.
Going by the Muckraker’s story one would have thought they would have splashed the gory details of the GT&T corporate axing on their front pages – but it was not to be. Just Yog’s self-serving, sanctimonious tripe. The Muckraker’s reporter’s ‘letter’ pointed out the anomaly of Yog’s boast of what he had done for GT&T”:
“Ten/10, FastBall, Jingle & Song Bollywood competition, ColorFest, Gospel Concert, Cinderella, National Spelling Bee, Berbice Rebellion, Feel the beat, Text, Talk, Topup, Dollar talk, Gameshow, Dora, Text-me, Wrestling, Easterfest, Beres Hammond, Donnie McClurkin, Shilpa Shetty, Night of Love, Magical Night of Christmas, Know-your-Stuff competition, Switch-it-up.”
Rigging in the blood
Vincent Alexander weighed in on the upcoming PNC’s leadership election. He warned that unless the existing rigging practices are removed it will continue to be ‘selection’ and not ‘election’. Can old dogs learn new tricks?