A few months ago, there was a brouhaha about the holding of the PNCR Congress. A few persons on the periphery of the party, not actual members, were very active on social media demanding the Congress be held by December 2023. According to them, irreparable harm would have been done to the PNCR if this Congress was not held as per their demand.
They demanded that the party’s Central Executive Committee exercise its authority and set the date for Congress, since, according to them the Party Leader was dragging his feet because he was afraid of a Congress. The Central Executive Committee met and decided that the General Council, to be held in November, would decide. Since a Congress cannot be organized in one month, the Central Executive Committee effectively poured cold water on the campaign for a Congress in December.
They then shifted their focus to the General Council, which was to be a referendum on the performance of the Party Leader, Aubrey Norton. There was even talk of a no-confidence motion against, and an official reprimand of the Party Leader. Well, the General Council was indeed a referendum on the performance of the Party Leader, but not in the direction that they hoped. The General Council gave the Party Leader a rousing endorsement. According to one party insider, the entire General Council was one big vote of confidence in the Leader of the Party.
The General Council engaged in lively discussions on several national and party issues. Several attendees commented on the poise and suave of the Party Leader during the discussions. He accepted responsibility and was deferential on the occasions when addressing criticism leveled at him or other Officers of the Party. He was also quick and firm in reprimanding any speaker who was disrespectful of others.
The mood of the General Council should have resulted in the immediate cessation of the anti-Norton campaign. Unlike what some may want to portray, Aubrey Norton is not an embattled Leader. He is firmly in charge of the Party with the enthusiastic support of the rank and file of the Party. Continued attacks on him are undermining the party and strengthening and emboldening the PPP. So much so that one must now question the real motive of those who continue with vile attacks on the Party Leader.
The attacks are under the guise that the Leader failed to keep campaign promises., including uniting the party and holding the PPP accountable. However, the critics are just sloganeering. A famous Guyanese adage is that “one hand can’t clap. “ This means, no matter how genuine Norton‘s efforts at unity are, if the relevant stakeholders have no interest in unity or further participation in the Party, there will be no happy ending. However, it cannot be interpreted as a broken promise if he did all that was possible.
The other supposed broken promise is the failure to hold the PPP accountable. One nemesis argued for mass protest; shutdown the country, he said. The irony is that people who never led or participated in a protest are declaring themselves major strategists for protest action. However, when listening to them carefully one recognizes they have the mindset of perpetual opposition. They want to turn the PNCR into a protest movement, as against a government in waiting.
It is good that Aubrey Norton resisted the temptation of the short-term gratification of two or three months of protest because when it is said and done, governments are elected, not protested into office. His role is to rebuild the party, making it into a well-oiled E-Day machinery, and a Juggernaut capable of the most effective political action across the country at a moment’s notice. His mandate is to use parliament, the courts, diplomacy, and the will of the people to hold the PPP accountable. However, as per Ecclesiastes 3:1-11, there is a season for everything. The party has to be primed and ready.
It is worthy to note that the few people on the periphery of the party actively undermining the Party Leader rejected the decision of the membership when he was elected. They never accepted him and fought him, and by extension the party members, at every turn. Their action is reminiscent of the story told in 1 Kings 16-28. They are prepared to destroy the party because of personal animus against the sitting Leader, and they are actively trying to recruit party members to be part of this destruction. However, the General Council, one of the most impacting in recent times, is reflective of a party growing in strength and readiness.
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