Social Media brawls remain epic with the low brow, high octane exchanges hitting every scandalous high point to register on the meter of the rage economy labeled discourse.
It’s where the once esteemed PNC, finds itself, having been brought to this level by Aubrey Norton, whose record of losing has just earned its star on the Political Losers Walk of Fame, burnished into place by the historic electoral battery his candidacy delivered to the PNC on September 1st 2025.
He was a candidate barnacled by multiple defeats having lost several races quite decisively because victory saw him, always, as a clumsy contender, overreaching and unskilled.
And, we’re not giving him “basket to fetch water”, as is the claim. He brings his own basket, woven from brashness and belligerence, cantankerousness and contention, impudence and incivility, none of which for negotiation make.
His lengthy political tenure is storied but hardly for applause. Aggressiveness for Strength are misplaced synonyms and fail in a political arena where constituents depend on conversation instead of confrontation.
This statement encapsulates his ‘walking in and out of Parliament‘ strategy when it was more performative outrage than leverage…especially since we never saw a studied alternative for what he protested.
Anger-tainment more aptly describes the fear-mongering that was his routine. It was clear that it was to distract from what he was failing at, as Leader of the Opposition – preparing alternative strategies, questioning policies by presenting studied reasons why they were wrong and alternatives that were fitting.
And all this takes us back to his consistent record of Loss and Raucous … that is, up until he had a hand in selecting his Central Executive to pave the path to him finally securing the spot of Leader. We’ll confine our information to extractions from Norton’s Wiki page which, comparatively, is less propagandist in the absence of anything from a Party source like, say, New Nation.
In 1997, Norton was appointed General Secretary by Party Leader Desmond Hoyte. In 1998 he was removed from the position and expelled from the Party for conduct unbecoming. Loss and Raucous.
In 2009, he lost the vote for Chairmanship of the Georgetown District to Volda Lawrence by the vast margin of 96 to 220 – 220 being for the winner. Loss. That same year, he was accused of libel after making accusations that his loss was fraudulent. Raucous.
On July 14th 2014, he announced a challenge to David Granger for Party Leadership. Raucous. On July 27th 2014 he withdrew his challenge citing problems with the election process. Loss and Raucous.
Then, in the 2021 elections for Party Leader, Aubrey Norton won.
Three thousand-3000- delegates were slated to vote. One thousand two hundred and nine-1,209- cast their votes. Nine hundred and sixty seven -967 -were cast in favor of Norton.
It was a poor year.
Norton won by a landslide…desirable only to 32.23% of the entire delegate slate and rejected by 67.77%…prophesying his acceptance rate in the PNC and predicting his popularity at the national level.
And true to postulating form, he gave a stirring pledge of victory… which we’ll get back to.
Unsolicited references to superlative academic accomplishment were furnished ad nauseam, in too many press releases. ‘Growing up’ in the Party as inference to unique prowess with knowledge of things Political and government, was the immediate go-to. It was the usual window dressing to cover the bareness beyond.
He galloped out the gate promising “protest in all fashion” in December 2021, not discourse. The ensuing months in both national position of Leader of the Opposition and Party Leader was a snarl of inexplicable behavior for any level of leadership.
After attending the first leg of a meeting to discuss “appointments for constitutional positions and commissions” with the leading arm of Government on May 13th 2022, Norton was a ‘no show’ for the second Part on May 30th 2022.
His reason ranged from not receiving the note, through having pressing commitments on said date, to him “not disrupting my schedule of meeting the people of Guyana and doing my work, just to meet him”(the President).
Apart from an unmitigated show of ignorance for protocol and priority, it was a desecration of both the Office of Opposition Leader and that of PNC Leader with the backhanded dismissal of duties that he swore to uphold to both Constitutions.
We’d say that he was plumb out of his depth, was ill prepared to tackle the substance of the meeting and had, if at all, some thin preparative work which he was unable to converse on, in analytical terms. But that would be overcomplicating his obvious under-qualifications and charade- laden career, built on distraction and transparent deceit.
Reverting to Raucous is his safe space.
He did, with a threat of legal action against the appointments he had opportunity to participate in and declined for reasons that were neither beneficial to his duty, to the Electorate as Leader of the Opposition, or the Constituents of his Party…more Loss and Raucous
By this time he had morphed in to Political Scientist per his professional profile and the introductions he never challenged.
Then, there was the traipse to the Bahamas in March, 2023 to a CARICOM assembly.
Everyone with an interest in politics knows that CARICOM meetings are restricted to Heads of Government and /or their Teams, Invited Guests and Observers.
Norton was neither.
Not to be deterred, he booked a flight, ‘encountered’ the Bahamian Prime Minister, ‘Brave’ Davis, in a hotel lobby and proceeded, in his words, to tell him about the “deteriorating political situation in Guyana as part of an expanding regional and international lobby.”
It was a version of slap stick comedy too serious to be funny. Davis redirected Norton to the more formal protocol.
That Norton boarded a plane under the rubric of complaint, was an embarrassment to the Republic. That he was dismissed summarily by the Bahamian Prime Minister for violating CARICOM protocol is a stain on our membership. That he returned to his political routine without rebuke or Party chastisement from elders/ informed members, is a silence that has protracted consequences, not excluding current decay.
Inaction damages legitimacy, voter trust, as it signals a culture of accommodation of rule- breaking and bad behavior.
And the question of why there was never query from the resident Elders or informed Party Members as to his sanity or sobriety – none of which would have been excessive, given his job titles and the repeated reference to his qualifications and competence- is what gave this candidate, roundly unqualified and squarely incompetent, access to the nuts and bolts of the PNC machine to dismantle sixty eight years of political gains.
The deconstruction of the PNC as the formidable Opposition it had remained for the decades it sat as Opposition happened on Norton’s watch and is his singular doing…having turned 22 seats plus a 9 seat Coalition, in to 12.
That the Central Executive has re-affirmed him as their head, after his leadership placed the Party on life support, confirms the whispers of his hand- picked body in servitude to his leadership and not its electorate.
Rumbles of his quest for absolute control by grooming a coterie of inside operatives to bypass the more democratic methods to gift him access, that could come only with Central Executive approval, now seem more manifest than not.
The victory speech he gave in 2021 had another part to it. He referenced the Party’s Constitution, his interpretation of it, giving automatic preference to the Leader then cited the situation with his immediate predecessors and made a conclusion that was unilateral and strategically self serving, in this interview.
Constitutions are documents of intent. If there is convolution or even confusion, there is a place to render a decision…especially when ambition outpaces talent and jeopardizes the entire entity.
And for all this, along with the sloppy book keeping and rules made up on the fly, is why we support the removal of Aubrey Norton as head of this historic Party which has been rejected by 83% of the country’s electorate under his leadership, losing the title of Opposition Leader for the first time in its history.
His performance confirms his lack of appeal for the Party’s expansion, as much as his tenure has shown his lack of proficiency at the job.
The flashing red light is still January 16th 2025, when this Leader held the first Party meeting, ever, after his ascension to office in January 2022. It’s an un-seriousness that confirms unfitness for any office, let alone one at the national level.
Elections do not make leaders, they merely appoint them.
The Founders wisdom of an academic base, a selective process through multi -point scrutiny, was able to retain leadership at either end of government for 68 years.
It was the erosion of this practice that produced Aubrey Norton who has epitomized why the founders implemented the process.
The Party is worth more than this aberrant leader whose ascension to office circumvented the quality test.
We’re joining the chorus of calls for him to resign, failing which he has to be removed in the interest of saving the PNC, the Institution of historic relevance to suffrage rights through Proportional Representation for all Guyanese, not the least of whom are Black.