Six executive members of The New Movement (TNM) have resigned from the party following what they described as attempts to use the fledgling political movement for private gain.
Those who have tendered their resignations include Prime Ministerial Candidate and Representative of the list, Gerald Forde and Party Secretary Dr Josh Kanhai.
TNM is part of the novel three-party list joinder from the March 2nd general elections and will have the opportunity to occupy a seat in the 12th Parliament for five months. TNM was one of the small parties which had high visibility during the five-month election crisis.
In a letter to the party, Forde noted that TNM “has become inept.”
“This is largely due to faction formation, character (assassination) within the leadership of the movement [and the practice of] undemocratic principles by Dr. [Asha] Kissoon and [Turhane] Doerga,” he explained.
Specifically the letter accused the Presidential Candidate and party financier of “mixing private and selfish interest with national politics” in the form of Guyenergy- an oil and Gas Company created by Doerga of which Kissoon has been made a director.
Kissoon meanwhile has denied the accusations levelled against her.
“GuyEnergy is a completely separate entity to TNM. Forde is bitter that he was not invited to be a part of GuyEnergy and quite frankly that’s his problem. The issues that led to their resignations are normal internal issues faced by any political party and if he can’t handle these internal issues then he can’t lead a country….TNM will move on,” she told Stabroek News.
Forde also claimed that some leaders of the political party have aligned too closely to the People’s Progressive Party/Civic post elections and thereby corrupted the internal politics of the party.
Members, he claimed, have lost the ability to think and act critically and independently for fear of souring their relationships.
Kanhai when contacted, told Stabroek News that the executive had actually voted to suspend the Presidential Candidate from the party but found themselves facing suspension when Kissoon and Doerga took control.
“Last night the members met and six execs including myself have decided to resign. We have noted attempts to besmirch the character of members and found these actions too malicious to countenance. Members have also been threatened with legal action so we felt it would be better to resign,” he explained.
