Dear Editor,
Sometimes it is hard to accept failure when you have so much invested in an organization or a person. I have witnessed this type of denial on many occasions and endured the excuses proffered and the explanations given for the failure, it is not easy, it hurts. However, facts are stubborn things. So, when I heard that the leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) had announced that the Party Congress would be held at the end of June, my initial reaction was this was fake news; until I heard it from a credible source.
My first reaction was based on historical precedence. Never had a leader of the PNC or PNCR given his party such short notice to prepare for such a seminal event. The Biennial Congress of the PNCR is the highest decision-making forum of the Party; it is the supreme authority. The Constitution of the Party clearly outlines that supremacy when it states, “the Congress has the right to review or to order a review of any decision taken by any other forum, organ or committee of the Party. The Biennial Delegates Con-gress elects the Party Leader, Chairman, two Vice Chairmen and fifteen other members to sit on the Central Executive Committee of the Party. This therefore is the most important event on the Party’s calendar.
Taking this into consideration, one must ask; why did the PNCR leader, knowing the importance of the Biennial Congress and the detailed and sometimes complex preparations necessary for the hosting of such an event, give the organization so little time to prepare? Judgement is an important leadership quality. Good judgement calls are a process, not an event. The process has three phases: preparation (sensing and framing the issue and communicating why the decision is important), the call (the decision), and execution of the decision. Taking into consideration the importance of the Biennial Congress one must question the Party leader’s judgement in giving his secretariat and members a mere 28 days to prepare for and carry out such an important event. The PNCR is a national party that spans the ten administrative regions of Guyana. The Party has hundreds of groups and many thousand members. Taking that fact alone into consideration 28 days seems inadequate.
The normal preparation time for a Biennial Congress is at least three months. Groups must be notified, after which they must meet and nominate persons of their choice for the positions of Leader, Chairman, Vice Chairmen, Treasurer and the fifteen member CEC. That information must then be sent to the Party’s secretariat along with the names of the delegates chosen to represent the group. The Party secretariat working in conjunction with a Congress Committee must then begin the process of verification and ultimately accreditation. Committees with responsibility for security, logistics, administration must then work to ensure that delegates from the various regions are transported to Georgetown and accommodated; air, land and water transportation has to be coordinated; adequate accommodation secured for the out-of-town Delegates; credentials for each category of delegate have to be generated; preparations have to be put in place for feeding of over two thousand persons, some with special needs; Congress documents – like questions and motions have to be discussed by groups and sent to the centre; these are just a small sample of the basic requirements, but these things are costly, take time and cannot be rushed.
It is a known fact that unrealistic deadlines cause confusion, chaos and carelessness. It would therefore be wise for the Party leader to reexamine his decision and postpone the Congress to a more realistic date, so that the Party can better prepare, and the process better scrutinized to allow for transparency and fairness. The PNCR can ill afford to emerge from this Con-gress in a chaotic state; fractured and disorganized. General and regional elections are scheduled for 2025 and if the opposition is going to field a credible team it must be united, well prepared and highly energized. Let us not fool ourselves, there will be no waving of a magic wand that will heal all wounds, forgive all sins and mend the fractured parts. No, the faithful will not magically rise united to do battle against the PPP; the way the PNCR enters this Congress will determine the way the Party emerge from it. Tek warning!
Yours faithfully,
Mark Archer
