Bad image from Congress has hurt PNCR

–former executive Lowe

Former People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) member Sherwood Lowe has expressed disappointment that the party time and time again has failed to address the management of its election process, resulting in another situation where members were forced to take their frustrations to the public.

Lowe told Stabroek News that last weekend’s congress highlighted the party’s inability to execute cohesive management.

While he said it was not fair to judge the party based on one incident, he added that “the bad image this Congress created has hurt the party” and he pointed specifically to the reaction to the discharging of a gun at the three-day event. “I think the party must by now understand that the uproar and the ruckus produces a very bad image to the public,” he added.

Sherwood Lowe
Sherwood Lowe

Lowe, the former Dean of the Technology Faculty at the University of Guyana, said that “there has always been a list of delegates and the accreditation process, and the counting of votes that has been a problem; this is not a new problem.”

But, he said, “I would have thought that the current leader, David Granger, would have settled these matters for all concerned, before the Congress… The image this party presents to the public is not an image it should want.”

He said that it was bothersome that the leader of the party did not go to Linden and offer a sit-down with those who had grievances. “I don’t know of any attempt to manage the process through the meeting of minds to resolve these issues in a friendly and fair manner,” Lowe stated.

“The source of controversy with Linden I think is politically immature and politically reckless. That they weren’t able to resolve the Linden issue before the Congress was surprising. I am utterly surprised that this matter was allowed to evolve so that on the start of congress there was a protest,” he added.

Stabroek News asked Lowe if these persistent issues were part of the reason he left the party and he noted that while they continue to be frustrating he was more concerned with the notion of shared governance, which the party was not inclined to listen to at the time.

Other former members of the party—Speaker of the House Raphael Trotman now a member of the AFC and Dr Faith Harding—declined to comment.

They both said they had been travelling and did not wish to comment about the party’s political image and any future implications with result to how potential voters will perceive the party moving forward.

Due to unresolved issues over the accreditation of delegates to the Congress, Granger’s prospective challenger, Aubrey Norton, withdrew from the contest, resulting in the incumbent being re-elected unopposed.

However, in light of similar issues dogging previous Congresses in recent years, the PNCR has once again found itself facing severe criticism.

Former Deputy House Speaker and PNCR executive Clarissa Riehl on Sunday said she would likely quit the party over the congress confusion and she described David Granger as “an aloof leader who stands aside” when he should be more involved in the management of the party.

Riehl, who said she has not set foot in Congress Place since 2011, told reporters she renewed her membership and turned out to vote for Aubrey Norton as leader because she supported the idea that the party’s leader and its presidential candidate should be different persons. Such an arrangement, she suggested, would force the two to work together and would produce a better outcome for the people.

However, after what transpired, Riehl said she might just quit the party.

Also PNCR member and current shadow finance minister of the APNU coalition Carl Greenidge told Stabroek News that the party should appoint a new General Secretary to replace Oscar Clarke in the light of the controversy surrounding the accreditation of delegates and the preparation of the list of voters eligible to vote at the party’s congress.

Greenidge also took aim at the preparation process, stating, “It is unacceptable that the delegates’ list is challenged on the morning of the Congress.”

He said that the management of the accreditation process and the resulting delegates’ list was one of many concerns he and others raised with former party leader Robert Corbin during the last Congress.