The level of institutional dishonesty that’s now the legacy of the Peoples National Congress (PNC), is a direct correlation to its captor, the gratuitously multi-titled Aubrey Norton.
He has countered an inglorious political defeat with a piracy that has embedded itself because of inaction.
It’s not that it was a stunning loss, one that was not forecast because of national distaste for him as a messenger of politics.
His history, per records, casts him as ultra polarizing, with a lengthy pattern of treating Party rules, truth and institutional boundaries, as optional.
Being dismissed from position of General Secretary by one of the most iconic leaders of the organization, and country, speaks more to his lack of membership quality than the dismissal itself.
And that defines this person whose cataclysmic loss seems to have embedded him in a seat of power that has paralyzed those who should, at least, feel duty to salvage this historic enterprise…the Peoples National Congress.
The question is why the paralysis of those who are perceived as Gate Keepers/ Safety Nets in the event of such a heist. Why is there this compounded immobility when rescue should be acute and exigent?
We know that they may be as disheartened as we all are, and were since the declaration of his candidacy. That sharp contrast with convention read like clumsy self sabotage.
But it’s been one year since his mounted destruction.
And, that came with an escalated brazenness which emboldened his cancellation of the 2026 Congress to determine whether he got to retain his squatting spot, or be subject to elections.
If there was residual dispiritedness among them– the Gate Keepers/Elders respected because of their bona fides– this cancellation should have reversed that. Instead, we are trundling along this path to hope based on nothing but catering to his frailties…a porous, acquired ego staged as un-budging.
There is lots of deference to the defiance of this now interloper, whose selfishness is seen as a superpower.
And we say this because of the intellectualizing given to the basic, roguery, thuggery and knavish despotism Norton deploys as some sort of flamboyance.
It’s akin to the skunk and his spray.
And we are wondering how to activate these Safety Nets, whose retreat to institutional propriety is ineffective. It’s not like Norton’s fierce single-minded focus on personal advancement is private practice.
Some say, his is the attempt to cover up the creative accounting that has, equally and simultaneously, depleted the PNC, with corresponding enrichment for him.
That should be an easy calculus that calls for no forensic audit; even if his fainting, fearless, accounting advisor tells him otherwise. That, too, should be amongst the reasons why the tactics of the elder heads should be revised.
Don’t get us wrong. We respect our Gate Keepers, whose contribution to the Party during its glory years is collectively legendary. But passive decorum is not for rogues and scoundrels. That, in effect, is a form of their acquiescence, compliance.
Active disruption is a viable tool, especially for this cadre of elites because it can be executed within their comfort zone.
The ‘Epistolary Crusade’ , for all of its majesty, would be a veritable weapon of targeted destruction, if these legendary men and women would embark upon a mission of public letter writing and/or speaking, calling for the pirate to step aside.
Under the circumstances, it would be a noble battle by the current forerunners of the organization, in the vein of the PNC Founder, whose legendary communication gave us voting rights.
Why? It would reinforce that confronting the interloper is not a petty, factional squabble or a routine internal dispute. It would, instead, via the stature of these men and women, affirm a high-minded honorable mission to rescue the inheritance that is the PNC.
And going public would re-assure the national voting bloc that the Party is doing more than saving face, or pretending that it’s destroyer is a healer in disguise.
The extended nonsense, the fights and the ultimata, this now derided, constantly pilloried hijacker exposes the Party to and gratuitously executes in its name, is political sacrilege.
Norton remains a character in search of an audience.
Getting himself noticed is as compulsive as an exhibitionist undressing everywhere. He forces himself upon unwilling listeners. He will cheapen himself in any setting to snare the attention he craves.
And it’s all to promote him –not the Party, which is a victim of his vindictive and calculated destruction. His scorched earth vendetta is retaliation for his ejection by 83% of the electorate…which removes any suggestions of his ability or viability.
And this is why the preference for quiet conference with this publicity addict wouldn’t be of service to the restoration of the PNC.
We’ve already proven why he’s weak, why he’s petrified of failure. And the constant attempts to coax him into civil discourse, affirms for him, the insolvency of decency.
You can’t tie a termite with twine. So, you meet it where it crawls in public spaces, by publicly calling for it to remove itself.
And, even if public shaming fails, the fact that it was public sends a message to the broader electorate, that this high jacker is not ordained and that the institution does not see him as part of its fabric.
He has failed the quality control inspection, by the meager measure of 17% of his own voters who saw him as presidential material in the General Election of 2025.
That specific public sentiment has to be echoed by the gate keepers, the safety net, now tasked with rescuing the Party from his heist. They can, also, include his signature side-show persona in the performative demand for a do-over. That will illustrate the depth of comicry and disgrace to which he has plunged this venerable institution.
We’ve heard talks of ‘Renaming/Rebranding the PNC’. The minds that conceived this move are airy contributors to political history.
Might we add the desecration to the founding members…their tireless efforts to knit disparate groups and thinking into one… just to have it all destroyed because current minds are too spoiled by easy acquisition, indifferent to the sacrifice that gave them this hallowed political vehicle.
Many founding Parties, including our former colonists, are centuries old. That’s, also, the case over several continents. Closer to home, Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and their political Parties’ length of years are similar. So are all of their Parties’ names.
PNC’s notion is that re- branding is synonymous with a name change. Not so.
It is not to be confused with product renaming and its inanimate nature versus the product of an institution that’s driven by sentiment -revision, in real time.
The distinct difference is a marketing concept called Brand Loyalty where consumers repeat the experience because of trust and emotional connection. PNC’s repeat customers are part of the team they heard their older relatives boast of.
They understand the loyalty that contributes to their sociopolitical preservation. They thrive on and rally around the camaraderie of team unity and the ensuing pride of being part of a body that supports their political relevance.
Institutions re-brand to better align with an evolving mission, clean up a public image, put distance between past controversies, bad product delivery and their future.
Re-branding reflects the DNA of an enterprise, which means every iota of its composition has to change. And there will be no change, real or perceived, if the same leader takes the reins of the re-branded enterprise.
See, rebranding is not the PNC’s problem. Leadership is. So, the solution has to be that of fixing leadership.
And that has to be done with more than the usual voices, with more than the diplomacy of coaxing a hijacker comfortable with hostage negotiations.
It’s neither our job nor intention to direct the Safety Nets on how to proceed.
But if we were to offer opinion, we would start with establishing the unceasing epistolary (letter writing) onslaught. That, as a deed, would announce refusal to pay the ransom.
Exorcising the failed formula –why the Party has seen irreversible demotion under this ‘decorated’ leader – would be part of the mission. And commitment to public, perpetual, pitiless delivery is core to the strategy.
We’ve heard the argument, “but he was elected”, to which we respond “sadly, but not to obstruct a scheduled election in order to stay in power’’.
This is as good an argument, in court, as him being elected. By him violating why he was elected has negated the ‘elected’ defense.
The party continues the charade of being one. Claiming progress without victory is a default stop, while it announces milestones and advancements that do not exist.
The demand to meet with WIN and Mohamed was another classic Nortonesque round of foppish effort. The out take, ‘After High Level Talks for Fifty Minutes’, is the cartoonish conclusion of his typical pomposetting.
Seriously, though. High Level and Fifty minutes are disparate concepts.
Lofty escalations with underwhelming closures remain his hall mark of negotiations. Strategic depth is never the goal. It’s always the short stop, the headline and the photo supplemented with some jaw grinding over a mic.
Intervention by the Safety Nets, Gate Keepers, is long over due.
They are the ones who can testify to the hard fought legacy, the valuable institutional achievements.
These were the foundation for relevance of the segment of Guyanese who would have been excluded from political participation because they were outnumbered by populous strength.
And for all that they have – history, respect, the unspoken designation of Societal Elders– we ask them to meet the moment.
Now is the time to organize, pick up your pens, and embark on the one form of warfare whose lethal weaponry is truth delivered in print– where there’s a boundless salvo of ammunition.
And, every form of media awaits you..broadcast not excluded.
