With approximately less than two months to go, preparatory works have commenced for the hosting of the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP’s) triennial Delegates Congress in May this year.
This is according to the party’s General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo, who give an update to the media at his weekly press conference on Thursday at Freedom House.
“It’s going well. We have a schedule for all the things. I don’t want to give all the details. The circulars have gone out, several circulars, as we prepare for the congress. Now we have to [start] the progress of verifying membership, to see all the requirements at the group level, and also to ensure that people meet the requirements to attend congress, and all of those things,” he disclosed.
This year, the PPP congress will be held in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), and Jagdeo noted that a separate committee has been established to work out the logistics, such as the location.
“So, we have several working groups made up of different members of congress. Since this year is supposed to be Region Four’s turn to host the congress, we have a local committee from Region Four outside of our Congress Committee to look at logistics for the congress. So, things are moving well for the congress,” the General Secretary has said.
In January of this year, Jagdeo had disclosed that the highly-anticipated Delegates’ Congress would be held in the first week of May.
The party’s last congress was held in 2016 at Cotton Field on the Essequibo Coast in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam). At that time, Jagdeo had been asked about his future as General Secretary of the PPP, and he had indicated, “It would be presumptuous of me to say I will continue as General Secretary. I’ll decide whether I’ll contest, but right now I am General Secretary until those elections are held.”
During the upcoming Delegates’ Congress, the PPP is expected to elect a new 32-member Central Committee, and party members – both local and from the diaspora – will be discussing critical issues within the party as well as in the country.
The PPP, led by President Dr Irfaan Ali, was returned to office in August 2020 after losing the 2015 elections to the then A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition.
According to the party’s constitution, the Delegates’ Congress is due every three years, but Jagdeo had explained last year that the COVID-19 pandemic was one of the contributing factors that delayed the hosting of the party’s congress.
The 2016 Delegates’ Congress was a major one for the party. During its hosting, there was an in-depth analysis of the results of the 2015 elections. Held under the theme “Strengthen the Party, Defend Democracy, Onward to Victory”, the PPP had said it was one of the largest in terms of the participation of delegates and observers. One of the highlights of that Congress was the presentation of the Central Committee Report, which formed the basis for spirited and robust discussions at several workshops. The main issues and recommendations from the workshops were presented to the plenary sessions for further deliberations, adoption and implementation.
The party had said that discussions at both the plenary and workshop levels had centred on strengthening the party politically and organisationally in order to win the next General and Regional Elections with an overwhelming majority. And this was achieved when the Party won the presidency with a commanding 233,336 votes, a remarkable lead of 15,416 votes over its nearest political rival, the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) at the 2020 polls.
