… Region 10 disenfranchised, calls continue for Clarke’s resignations

CHAIRMAN of the People’s National Congress Reform, Mr. Basil Williams, held nothing back when he scoffed at calls made by reputable PNCR party members Messrs Sharma Solomon, Carl Greenidge, and Aubrey Norton for the resignation of party General Secretary, Oscar Clarke.

Williams had noted to the press that it is questionable why some elements would demand the same standard of accountability and rigorous electoral scrutiny from a party organisation. Almost in disbelief, the party executive bemoaned: “They are actually calling upon a party organisation… it is as though they are talking to GECOM [Guyana Elections Commission] … There must be problems.”
And, “Mr. Greenidge is probably holding the Accreditation Committee to a standard that he believes should be on the same footing as GECOM.”
The Chairman then moved on to not only question the bid by Solomon for leadership, but he hinted that in order to avoid future altercations, the party ought to consider a congress held every five years rather than every two years. According to him, “We have to decide, should we extend a term to five years so we wouldn’t have to deal with this thing every two years.”
Explaining that in the party’s democracy there is almost no means of stopping a challenger, he said: “Mr. Sharma Solomon surfaced two years ago but he wants to run for leader, you understand what I am saying.” “So if people have these visions of grandeur, they could give them expression within the People’s National Congress because of our democracy and democratic tradition.”

CLARKE’S RESIGNATION
Meanwhile, following calls made by People’s National Congress Reform party stalwart, Mr. Carl Greenidge for the resignation of PNCR General Secretary, Mr. Oscar Clarke; Regional Chairman of Region 10, Sharma Solomon has made clear the frustration of the region he represents.
Speaking at a press conference at the Critchlow Labour College Georgetown, Solomon stressed the need for a certain level of accountability in the party with respect for the constitution especially by party office-bearers. According to Solomon, “Those who have accepted responsibility for matters must be held responsible for the activities that they have asked to be responsible for.”
He noted that while Mr. Clarke operates in the capacities of Chairman of the party’s Accreditation Committee- which has the responsibility of registering delegates and observers- and as the General Secretary of the Party, his role was “to ensure that we had an election that people were satisfied with.”
Solomon pronounced that, “I can say to you an entire region was not satisfied.”
At the conclusion of the PNCR’s 18th biennial congress, there were widespread claims of elections rigging and electoral fraud to which Mr. Clarke was the point man. Similarly there were attempts to exclude some party members from particular regions by refusing them entry at the premises of the PNCR Secretariat, Sophia, Greater Georgetown.
Solomon questioned the consistency of the position of some members in the Party when he likened their actions to be contrary to their calls for the PPP/C Administration to be accountable.
“If we are to ask for local government elections and we are asking this Government to ensure that people’s rights are respected [and] that they can be allowed to appoint and elect their own local representatives, then we expect that those elections will be one where people are satisfied with the process and not dissatisfied that they are not given that right to exercise their franchise,” Solomon said.
He added that the Party “cannot go to the national public and say to them this is what we expect of the Government and in our own party; we have segments of your party’s constituency [who] believe that their internal rights to exercise their franchise are not respected.”
Although concerns of voting irregularities were made to the party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) and the Accreditation Committee, of which Clarke is the Chairman, very little effort was made to address these concerns.

RENOUNCING THE BALLOT
According to Solomon, the decision he made to remove his name from the Leadership nominees list was reflective of his dissatisfaction with the electoral processes. He disclosed that there were three meetings held up to Thursday night “with over 250 party members in Region 10 and I expressed to those members that those concerns remained.”
He added that in his address to the PNCR stronghold members on Thursday at the Harmony Secondary School, McKenzie, Linden “the concerns that we were not having the sort of responses that we deserved in satisfying the conditions that these elections were going to be held under.” “I said to them that based on the statement released, we were going to come back to them to express if we were going to move forward in some of the positions advanced.”
The decision, Solomon said, was taken on the principle that because of the region’s dissatisfaction and also on the facts that the official delegates for the party were not confirmed based on the voters list and these persons were therefore not properly accredited.
Solomon stated that after consulting with the Region 10 constituents, he then moved to Congress Place to make clear his reason for renouncing his nomination. However, “the Chairman of the proceedings ended the session before I could have had an opportunity to explain to Congress why I actually withdrew from [the list of] Party Leaders.”
When questioned on the way forward and whether the disenfranchised group will take action, Solomon announced that the people of Region 10 continue to be the party’s stronghold as reflected in the 2006 and 2011 General Elections. He noted however that there is a need for addressing the lack of implementation of effective mechanisms provided in the party’s constitution, “where all are held accountable to the rules of the party.”
Solomon told the Guyana Chronicle that if the party is prepared to lead Guyana, “the same accountability [that] we ask of the Government, we must be prepared in our party as members to ask of our leaders.”

(By Derwayne Wills)