PNCR leader Robert Corbin yesterday announced that the party has finally settled on the procedure for the selection of its presidential candidate and said the process would be made public by Monday.
Speaking yesterday at the party’s weekly news conference, Corbin said the Central Executive Committee had endorsed the process, which includes the original proposals from the special committee established to hammer out the details as well as later suggestions from the membership. According to the party leader, the process has started “in earnest.”
“That process commences today (yesterday) with information being sent out to the various party members and groups on the system to be put in place … it is intended to involve every bonafide member of the party in the process of nominating and so on and there are some timelines which have been placed in the process to ensure that the process has been expeditiously dealt with.” He said the members will be given a seven-day period to assimilate the information “before the action really begins in terms of their participation.”
Corbin’s announcement came hours after the hospitalisation of former party chairman Winston Murray, who was one of four persons who had declared interest in being the PNCR’s presidential candidate. The others are PNCR Vice Chairman Basil Williams, former minister Dr. Faith Harding and retired Brigadier David Granger.
The party’s General Council in July had mandated the set up of a selection committee which was to draft the criteria, system and procedures for the selection process and present this at the final General Council meeting which was held on October 23. But at that meeting, a number of suggestions came from the floor and led to a decision to conduct further consultations with members and the process subsequently stretched to almost three weeks.
Asked yesterday if the delays in deciding on the selection process were a waste of time, Corbin disagreed stating that they were not only looking for a party candidate but also “a president of Guyana.” “Any exercise which gives people an opportunity to participate in the process would not in my opinion be an exercise in futility; in fact it’s a useful exercise and is contributory to the generation of interest and enthusiasm in the party and in the society generally,” he added.
According to Corbin, he believes the exercise has generated enthusiasm among the party membership and the wider electorate.
“I’m very pleased with the interest shown not only among the PNC members but among the general electorate that the PNC for the first time is breaking new ground in engaging in a democratic process of trying to identify by democratic means a person to represent the country.”
At the same time, the party’s efforts at forging an alliance for a coalition to contest the 2011 General Elections are moving apace, according to Chief Whip Lance Carberry who was present at yesterday’s briefing. “We have agreed that the discussions will move from the Joint Opposition Political Parties to consultations with other entities and those consultations have started. So that process is one that is ongoing and hopefully in a month or two we will have a fairly clear picture of those who are genuinely and willingly interested in becoming members of an alliance,” Carberry stated.
