The PNCR’s disciplinary committee has suspended James McAllister and asked him to resign his position as a Member of Parliament (MP) for his involvement in Vincent Alexander’s aborted challenge for the party’s leadership at last year’s biennial congress.
The committee, however, has not taken a decision on Alexander, though it has recommended to the PNCR Central Executive Committee (CEC) that if he fails to recognise the party leadership he should be asked to resign from all positions in which he represents the party. The other members of Team Alexander, except former GYSM member Randy Nurse, were found guilty of breaching party rules and they were reprimanded. They are MP Deborah Backer, Ivor Allen, Hamley Case, former GYSM Chairman Chiyedza James and former GYSM executive members Peter Livingstone and Juliana Gaul. Nurse had been previously asked to apologise to a colleague for alleged racist remarks and was suspended for a year from the party. He did not apologise and has not renewed his membership.
Disciplinary proceedings were instituted against Alexander and other members of his team for their public display during their campaign last July to wrestle leadership from Robert Corbin. Alexander subsequently dropped out of the party election for leadership, saying that there should be a verification of the list of members eligible to vote at the party polls.
In its decision against members of Team Alexander, the committee found that there was “no evidence of malice but one of poor judgment” in their respective cases. It also urged them to avoid recurrence, warning that the consequences would be treated seriously in the future.
In a telephone interview, PNCR General Secretary Oscar Clarke told Stabroek News that everyone who had been summoned by the party’s disciplinary committee had been found guilty. Three members – former executive members Joseph Hamilton and Dr Dalgleish Joseph and former GYSM Chairman Andrew Hicks – did not reply to summons to appear before the committee. Clarke said McAllister has been suspended for a year by the committee and on re-applying to become a member, he would have to sign the party’s code of conduct. All the other members who were reprimanded would also have to sign the code of conduct. Stabroek News understands that coming out of the actions taken by the members of Team Alexander in its public campaign, the PNCR has taken a decision that anyone renewing membership or applying to become a member of the party had to sign its code of conduct.
The committee has directed the CEC to decide whether Alexander should be asked to resign, in which event steps would be taken to ensure his compliance. It concluded that if Alexander does not recognize the party leadership, he ought to discontinue representation at every level, including the Local Government Reform Task Force and the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). The committee’s report was submitted to the Central Executive Committee more than a month ago.
When Stabroek News contacted Alexander, he confirmed receiving the letter but declined to give an immediate comment. “I am going to respond to this,” he, however, assured. He only returned to the country yesterday after an overseas trip. Stabroek News has been told that the committee’s decision was worded in such a way as to sway Alexander towards recognizing the party leadership. Alexander is currently a member of GECOM and a co-chair of the bi-partisan Local Government Reform Task Force.
Asked what would happen if McAllister did not resign, Clarke said there were other options that the party could take. These include the party recalling him from Parliament based on legislation the PPP/C and PNCR enacted in Parliament last year. He said that in considering disciplinary measures against McAllister, who is currently out of the country, the committee took into account his movement out of the country and his absence from Parliament without informing Corbin, who is the head of the party’s list.
The party can effect Alexander’s removal as its representative of the Local Government Reform Task Force, where he is its representative. Indeed, after Alexander withdrew from the challenge for leadership of the party last year, he offered his resignation from the task force but he received no response.
On the other hand, the party would not be able to remove Alexander from his constitutional appointment at GECOM. Alexander was appointed to the commission last year by President Bharrat Jagdeo after he was named a nominee by the parliamentary opposition parties – the PNCR-1G, the AFC and GAP-ROAR. What is more, the law currently makes no provisions for term limits for members of the commission.
The disciplinary action was in keeping with a motion passed at the party’s biennial congress impugning them for misconduct. The substance of the motion was “an expression of lack of confidence” in them for actions incompatible with party membership. The charges ranged from theft by one person to speaking with the media by the majority. The offences, the committee said, were committed in direct contravention of guidance given by the Corbin and party Chairman Winston Murray that it would not have been in the interest of the party.
