Question…
Remember, on January 11th January 2002, when Norton called for Desmond Hoyte’ s resignation, as the ‘Decent Thing’, after Hoyte lost five seats in 1997 but garnished 26 Seats and 40.55% of the total electorate, confirming a like-ability that Norton has never enjoyed nationally… a call he delivered in his political combat fatigues?
Now…
Demeaning headlines like these will preface the historically founded Peoples National Congress PNC, subsumed by the image of loss and failure, having been successfully pirated by its nominal Leader, Norton, who is a demonstrable loser…garnishing a damning 17% of the total vote at General Elections of 2025.
The designation ‘Outgoing’, more taunt than label, will be frequent as will be solicitations for Norton’s political opinions; not because they are thoughtful and articulate but because they range from ‘raucous to rage’ .
Soiling the image of the Founders known for thoughtful articulation, remains the envy of every Opposition.
Its loss will now be for their entertainment.
And its degraded and humiliated state of existence may have paralyzed all those who brought it to this place; with their Facebook Face-Offs, financial donations and grand receptions in North America and elsewhere, in a faux kind of populism, mounted to counter political rivals whose nominees were always going to outstrip theirs, in the basic requirements of candidacy.
We’ve documented Norton’s opportunistic take over of the Party, impoverished by decades of no oversight of rules, procedures and general administrative practices and the over-leaping ambitions of this designated Leader who screams country as cover to advance personal ambitions.
Kremlin- esque images of the Leader who lost, blasting a manufactured resilience and instinct for survival of adversity, are the retreats of those looking to withdraw with some assertion of victory…even if it’s to salute his perfunctory entrance into the race. Misplaced militancy and voting color versus matching quality have reduced them to this place.
We never wavered in calling Norton what he is – a bombast with a manufactured portfolio of imaginary political accomplishments, who’s wily instincts accessed the loopholes that survived the absence of vigilant administration of all policy documents -from Constitution to Guidelines – over too many decades.
And, not being wrong, is more reason to highlight how his presence will continue to besmirch this historic vehicle- the PNC- if he remains anywhere near its Administration.
Norton was never elected. There were no elections where he faced competitors for his candidacy, that of Party Leader. As we say always, if we are wrong ,we’ll apologize if proof to the contrary, is submitted.
And his authority to act is co-signed by a Central Executive body, elected through steering voters to a slate of candidates who are, by implicit command, compliant with his suggestions.
So, the fall out of discontent by personnel who worked diligently to be selected for Parliament and were not, is understood…especially if they are longstanding PNC members with a record of delivering regions for the PNC.
We run contrary to the opinions of Team Face Book which asserts that the Central Exec “did its best” and these productive aspirants should wait. Their opinions don’t only show a lack of knowledge or care about Norton’s ascension to Leadership, we’re thinking. It shows callous disregard for the member who worked in good faith for a fair reward.
And every day Norton remains near the reins of the Party will be another day the PNC will be reduced in what’s left of its stature.
And he’s conscious of it.
His decision to not go in to Parliament as the Party’s Leader, though relief, is more pride than plan.
For all of his fevered politics, his stoking of animosity and show of preference for division, he will be political game for his opponents, especially sitting way out in the Parliamentary bleachers. His résumé of braggadocio is known to be cover for his frailties, one of which is being less than his ambitious heights…is the general diagnosis. And, as the most demoted in the current Parliament, he will be the literal butt of all scorn.
His ploy, as a scientist in his craft, to escape from the mortification of being in parliament to face his victors, is deputizing a representative, once famously apolitical,whose résumé he now touts as authentically PNCR, making him ‘not foisted’ on the Party but a family member.
Who baptized this new convert, we’re wondering, to have dedicated his soul to a Norton PNCR? It sounds like a political consecration by a parody evangelist under a make shift tent. And this is what we, supporters, are expected to accept as leadership?
To say that Norton has lost legitimacy is to understate his rejection for public office by several social measurements.
He is seen as the least of the leaders to enjoy public trust. His loss of the seat of Opposition Leader removes the perception of him as a viable politician. Plus, the composites of these social measurements are yardsticks of their own measuring sub parts of his lack.
And the sentiment will visit his appointees…the MP’s he handpicked knowing that they will be painted with the same brush of rejection.
As a political pugilist, he should know the nature of the beast…which is not a glib statement but one in query of why he, who called on a contender, that lost merely 5 seats yet held enough to remain Opposition Leader, to do the decent thing, remains so indecent.
He has hijacked the Party of Forbes Burnham which was founded on an ethos of education and civic graces. Its erosion, over decades, has made it vulnerable to poachers with ambitions to rise to the top, even if they don’t know what to do when they get there.
And, its long -sliding aberration may be what some cite to escape committing to its salvaging.
We say history, if not owned, will be told by others, whose narrative will contain deliberate inaccuracies…the old “History is written by the Victors” adage.
For those supporters living through the degeneration of this historic political entity, Peoples National Congress, and subscribe to its restitution, looking back on the call from its current leader for the resignation of Desmond Hoyte, would be ground zero, especially since it was a call to exercise Decency.
Decency is one of the fundamental civic behaviors, a base moral which shows respect for others, even those with whom one disagrees.
Calling on a politician to resign is civic advocacy justified when the politician has lost favor, confidence and jeopardizes the existence of his own political entity as shown when the politician has been been massacred at the ballot box.
None of this could be attributed to Mr. Hoyte’s loss but Norton ran with it anyway because Loud and Extreme is the framework of his politics.
If Norton felt that a loss of 5 seats with the retention of position Opposition Leader, the support of 40.55% of the voting electorate and receipt of 161,901K votes, was bad enough for Desmond Hoyte to be asked to resign as an act of decency, surely he knows that his abysmal performance, that lost the Opposition Leadership, posting numbers never, ever received by the Party, is more than enough reason for his Decency to be shown.
If there ever was need for some political propriety because of underperformance that risks the survival of a Political Party of legend, it is now when its stalled resuscitation sits it on the edge of extinction.
Again, therefore, we register our call for Aubrey Norton to resign, having failed irretrievably at a position that he was never ready for.