-Norton says they are being paid to protest
By Khadidja Ba
With its congress just two weeks away, PNCR headquarters was the scene of a protest on Friday by persons who said that they were concerned about the lack of transparency and information surrounding preparations.
A protestor, who preferred to remain anonymous, voiced fears of reprisals within the party for speaking out.
“We are a mix of old and new members,” the protester said. “Our primary grievances revolve around the lack of transparency and information sharing in the Congress preparations. It appears there are deliberate attempts to undermine the fairness of the elections at Congress”, the protester said.
The protester asserted that there is a high level of doubt when it comes to faith in the preparations process for Congress due to the lack of transparency, “there only seems to be a few people in the know about what’s going on, I don’t even know who is the Director of Congress, there is no information sharing”. Another protestor who spoke with SN stated that “All we want is free and fair elections, and currently the way this Congress preparation is going, it is not set out for us to have that.”
The disappearance and reappearance of a Central Processing Unit (CPU) with party information has added fuel to the fire. The shortened timeline for Congress preparations, typically three months, now compressed to six weeks, has further raised anxieties about oversight and fairness. “We demand free and fair elections,” another protestor stated.
Credibility
In response to the allegations, PNCR Leader Aubrey Norton, who is seeking re-election, raised doubts about the protestors’ credibility, suggesting external influences and questioning their party affiliation due to the hidden faces of the protesters.
“If they are serious and genuine party comrades, mechanisms exist to address their concerns,” Norton asserted. He downplayed internal discord, asserting unity among the party’s base.
In an interview with the Sunday Stabroek, Norton said “I know for sure there is someone residing out in the United States who has paid them to protest. The second thing I know is that they don’t allow you to see if they are party members or not, they kept their faces covered by the placards so I cannot say that it is a legitimate protest. If people are hiding their face, then something is wrong. I just see it as a particular person in the United States who did it to David Granger and who did it to others and they paid somebody from Melanie Damishana who mobilized them and then hide their faces. I don’t know that they are party members so I wouldn’t pay much attention to it.”
To the claim that the reason for their anonymity was fear of repercussions, Norton replied “How do you sideline people that you don’t even know? Even if they did have their faces there, we don’t do that in this party. I have had people who disagree with me and I engage them. To me they are just clutching at straws. They are out-nominated.”
Claims regarding bias as it relates to the content of the circulars being distributed to the groups were refuted by Norton “That’s totally untrue. There are 3 circulars that are prepared and all 3 circulars are sent to the groups. Every Congress it’s the same circulars, only thing that changes is the date.”
Norton does not see in-house fighting within his party leading up to Congress, “I see a few people overseas, linked to some people here and are trying to create a problem. But the base of this party is united and going strong.”
However, dissent persists. On Wednes-day, Roysdale Forde SC, who is challenging Norton for leadership of the party, condemned procedural lapses in nomination processes across various regions on “Conversation on Caribbean Power Jam Radio with Dr. Linda”.
“I am in the North East Ruimveldt party group, we are required to ensure that in part of the Congress preparation, that each group meets, sits together, identifies the candidates for the respective posts and then identifies the delegates. The leader of the groups decided they were not going to do that they were simply going to write names on a paper and submit that forward. It is happening throughout the party in regions 9, 7, 1. These are retrograde tendencies”, he said.
Meanwhile, as the party prepares for its upcoming Congress, it faces pressing deadlines for delegate submissions amidst acknowledged organizational challenges. The PNCR General Secretary (GS), Dawn Hastings has acknowledged delays in updating membership records but has assured that necessary adjustments will be swiftly completed to meet revised submission deadlines.
According to the GS, a letter was to be dispatched over the weekend to nominated individuals, requiring them to confirm their candidacy by this week. This step is crucial for election preparations as it enables the Returning Officer to proceed with ballot paper preparation.
The General Secretary also revealed that Friday was initially slated as the deadline for groups to submit their final delegate lists. However, she admitted to the difficulty in providing updated membership lists due to a backlog of tasks, including data entry and membership renewals. Efforts were prioritized on renewals already in the system, with completion achieved for only 5 or 6 regions by Friday. The remainder is expected to be finalized shortly. Consequently, the deadline for delegate submissions has been extended to tomorrow, June 17th, 2024, allowing groups the weekend to review and potentially revise their lists.
The Congress is set for June 28-30.
