Former army Chief-of-Staff Rear Admiral (ret’d) Gary Best has downplayed the addition of retired Brigadier Mark Phillips to the ranks of the opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), while saying the David Granger-led governing coalition is currently unmatched.
Best, speaking at a People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) press conference on Friday, said that while it is a fact that Phillips has been a man of integrity and good leadership, his presence does not represent a serious threat to the coalition government as the country prepares to go to the polls next March.
“It’s no contest…because [of] the credentials of the David Granger-led coalition government: honest leadership, integrity, development, more jobs, entrepreneurship, international recognition, national recognition… When you tick off the scorecard, I don’t see it being a serious competition between President David Arthur Granger, who is a Brigadier retired and the gentleman you mentioned, who was a colleague of mine, Brigadier Mark Phillips,” Best, who is a Central Executive Committee member of the PNCR, maintained.
In 2013, when Best retired as the Chief-of-Staff of the army, he handed over command to Phillips, who held the post until his own retirement in 2016.
In response to questions about whether Phillips would be a politician who displays honesty and integrity, Best maintained that he could not speak to Phillips’ choices. “It is a fact that he brought them when working with me I was able to demand that [but] Mr Phillips is a gentleman and he will decide what qualities he displays,” he told reporters.
While Phillips was seen by some observers as a potential Prime Ministerial candidate for the PPP/C at next year’s general elections, General Secretary of the PPP Bharrat Jagdeo has indicated that Phillips was accepted as a member of the Civic component of the opposition because he indicated that he wanted to work to achieve common goals and not because he wanted a specific position. Jagdeo stressed that anyone thinking of joining the PPP/C must do so without expecting any ministerial or other positions.
Meanwhile, Best also indicated that the PNCR is not worried about any of the new parties which have recently been launched.
Though he described the parties as necessary and useful, he stressed that they have no track record while the PNCR is a mass-based party with 62 years of experience in politics.
The small parties, he argued, are not a threat as their platforms align with that of the PNCR and their appeal might be to the middle to upper middle class compared to the mass appeal of his party.
“There is nothing in the platform that is not the core principle of the PNCR. They haven’t come up with anything new,” he said, before adding that the PNCR is convinced that coalition politics is the future and it is always open to new coalition partners.
“In our view, coalition politics [are] here to stay, so the extent to which [there’re] other parties that are being formed is the extent to which the David Granger-led administration party will be concerned –but not from a negative perspective we don’t see that as a combat divider… we see how broad the coalition can be in the future,” Best said.
Best repeatedly reiterated that the party is convinced that it has the best candidate, the best team and the best plan to develop the country over the next ten years
