Dear Editor,
I would not choose or openly back a candidate for political office because he/she is my friend or someone I am perched to benefit from should they succeed in entering office. Equally, I would not attempt to cause someone who is not my friend or colleague to be deliberately denied such an opportunity because I wish to spite them as a result of our past falling out or prevailing differences. I have not arrived at such maturity in adulthood. It is a principle embedded in me from a very early age.
Politics is not necessarily a moral game but politics is about people and the singular of people is person. In politics, I try to be very fair in my analysis of what is right or wrong for the people. People tell me every day that I am a political animal. I would rather to be known as an honest and conscientious contributor to the politics of my country. What motivates me everyday day is the belief that the poor man and woman can get their just dues and live a decent life void of destitution and misery. I do not believe in a utopian world but I know politics can offer an opportunity for all to live a good life in whichever society they belong. I can go to bed and not mention another word about Aubrey C. Norton’s candidacy for the leadership contest of our beloved party and wake up on December 12, to congratulate him if the process is fair. I am from the streets of Linden. You cannot spend years on the Mackenzie Frontline and be some slow or docile person. Generally, intellectuals have a difficult time convincing streetwise people about nonsense. The streets would see right through you and think you are funny or even a fool.
I knew before nomination day that the grassroots people connected to my candidate, and would overwhelmingly support him. There is justification for such powerful support. They have common sense. After nomination day, the Village Voice reported that my candidate got approximately fifty percent of the nominations. My candidate got over eighty percent. Political actors in our Party have said to me that my candidate is now loosing support because those constituencies are now hearing from my candidate’s competitors, and are coming to grips with the real truth. In the same breath they have said that there is low turnout and sometimes the people in the various regions reject them when they visit. The quiet and covert smear campaign against my candidate will not suffice. But I wish to conclude by saying this, the worst aspect of all of this comes from two or three former friends and colleagues of my candidate who had age old differences with him and are hell bent on being mischievous behind the scene. They want to see him fail. On the December 11, he will not fail. Any failure will come from the party’s election machinery coming to a grinding halt with bias for anyone else but the people’s choice. In normal language, I think it is called rigging. The grassroots supporters have registered during nominations who is their man. The ghost whisperers and detractors in the shadows must come forward and declare who they support. They can’t because their credibility will be seriously questioned thereafter.
Sincerely,
Norman Browne
Political activist
