There was always some amusement about the rock star treatment the Non Maximum Opposition Leader received in North America. The political pampering was intently and reverently overdone. Talk of his decades as a Party member, in the superlative, was always intended to turbo charge our admiration for his leadership.
He, too, garlanded himself with the trimmings of vast knowledge, not confined to academic education, or subordinate to the genius of a political savant. Highly educated and doubly credentialed was the implied label.
So the riding in to town on the proverbial donkey over a palm strewn path was his usual journey.
We would often wonder out loud, in print, why the grandiosity of the reception never matched his political production in tangible outcomes; what specifically, other than his arrival, was being celebrated, especially since there was never definition of path forward or achievement markers met.
We understand Party affiliation but have greater allegiance for nation building and country preservation. We’re advocates for the political Opposition and do so in the context of Guyana’s Constitution.
So, forgive us if we assess Norton’s expulsion of the very North American entities of the PNC, which gilded his image and treated him like religious royalty, as a NON CAUTIONARY TALE.
Whatever the technical issue under which he has severed whomever…he did so close to an election he initially held hostage, in a dictator-style swipe that has no anchor in efficiencies.
He is a failed Caesar but only with the help of those who longed for better and gave him too much charge. It’s the kind of forced error made when grasping for hope from amongst choices that conform to an obsolete system that serves its hierarchy and not the people.
There are no great triumphs…even when ‘your’ candidate wins.
So, moving on is of both urgency and necessity.
For the nation’s democracy to work, there has to be an elected Opposition that is viable. Operating as individual units and not the sum of its parts is a disservice to the entire electorate – for the Coalition Opposition is a national arm of Government.
By now, it should be seen that the litmus test for viability has to transcend how long a person ‘was in the trenches’, as well as the other archaic measurements that have diminished the Party’s efficacy, both as a political vehicle and in the legislative body.
Unbridled ambition may be attractive but could be impaired by a lack of leadership ability, absence of interpersonal skills and a reputation that casts a poor reflection on the people and entity, represented.
Hopefully, a newly elected leader would come with less of these operational frailties and more humility to understand that he/she is neither infallible nor irreplaceable.
And while we’re here, lets contemplate if the Party Leader will automatically become the Leader of the Opposition.
Honestly, we have due reservation.
What we’ve heard since 2020 is that the former President, Granger, still “holds the list” of potential Members of Parliament- which is a coveted lever of power that either promotes or demotes a politician to/from the prestige of sitting in that hallowed chamber. We’ve learned, too, that Ramjattan is Deputy Holder of said list.
We know it’s not unique to the PNC but the current arrangement, in a fractured Opposition Coalition, seems to be administratively untenable. Why a former President retains that leash of power we’re uncertain…as we are about why a severed ally remains equally as potent. What we’re certain of, though, is the combined power held by these two players… and question if that power, which belongs to the people, will ever be rescinded- shall we say, graciously?
See, the manner in which control of said ‘List’ was obtained, was relayed as a dark adventure, mired in falsities and half truths, in which the combination of title and fear of repercussion resulted in the suspicious and reluctant agreement to sign off on the Holder and His Deputy, as being the personnel of choice. One single person, we’re told, met with those who submitted…albeit with due suspicion and reluctance …to the representation that that one person was nominated by the entire Party to be its ‘Holder’. It was a heist of power and against the electorate.
But PNC Congress, per public advertisement, is on the horizon, so we’re looking forward to an injection of efficiency into the current Operational System. With luck, there will be the election of a leader who is allergic to personality politics and the self service of self marketing by trafficking in the absurd. With prayer, the election will yield a leader who sees change as a precursor to overhaul and improvement, who will keep political efforts abreast with the international political climate and domestic needs of the electorate.
We’re not citizens who believe that “hope springs eternal”. Those are the classic clichés that impose the small dictatorships- the few who creep into position and weaponize the ills of the system against the majority, too unaware or unable to complain about concerns because the rules and regulations of the very system prohibit that…implicitly and explicitly.
It’s a paradox in which small dictatorships thrive.
Complexity of the system, name recognition, a well peddled reputation, can cast validity upon actions executed in the name of the system that provides ample cover for selfish acts…that hoodwink and deprive the very people they claim to help.
Hopefully, new leadership would be invested in country and not in being coopted for personal aggrandizement…even if expulsion of the entity that gave the Party legitimacy in North America, is now being sold as a decision by its Central Executive Committee (CEC) and General Council (GC).
Scape and Goat will always surround this claim – without time stamped evidence that the expulsion was announced AFTER this ‘sage’ consultation with a CEC and GC.
And Party voters for new Leadership should regard their role as a solemn and privileged duty.
They’ve got to start aiming higher than voting for the candidate that’s better than the worst.
NORTON MAY RETAIN HIS POSITION, AS LEADER OF PNC – BUT NEVER WIN A GENERAL ELECTION.
The PNC – under its current leadership -cannot win a General Election, unless it makes fundamental charges to its own constitution and the country.
Most Guyanese on both sides of the racial divide are still stuck in their TRIBALISM; doing great danger to themselves and to the progress of the nation.
I agree with your statement:
“Unbridled ambition may be attractive, but could be impaired by a lack of leadership ability, absence of interpersonal skills and a reputation that casts a poor reflection on the people and entity, represented”.
The above is what is lacking in the leadership of the PNC.
The incumbent leader is too set in his way to make the type of Global changes that are necessary to bring prosperity to the country.
The fact that they have abandoned the key elements of the Burnham’s economic, social and Cultural (culture the wider sense), tells me that they PNC has lost its core values and is total unfit to manage the affairs of the country.
Granted that it is the most democratic party in the country – but bad at applying the same values in the country as a whole – tell a lot about how far it has shifted away from real life.
The PNC cannot go it alone – it has lost the Trust of many grassroots activists, due to its arrogance, underhand dealings and corrupt practices in government.
Guyana needs a national leadership that is capable that cut across race, gender and age – Norton is incapable of putting those “ingredients in the same pot”. In short, Norton is unfit to lead.
I know Aubrey Norton more than most activists. I have had battles with him prior to the Coalition coming into office and during its period in
a government.
Granger appointed him as his adviser on Youth, but he did nothing to shape the life and living conditions.
Norton was commissioned to produce a “Youth Strategy” – the document was never released to the public for discussion.
We, the National Farmers Organisation and other farming community will not support a leadership that shows dictatorial tendencies.
We gave the Coalition at least seats – and gain nothing from the Granger-led administration.
Why should we waste our votes, again.