IN an effort to cushion the impact of the public ridicule for the nefarious, unilateral and unprincipled decision of suspending Member of Parliament Ms. Vanessa Kissoon, the PNC now has two public positions on this fiasco. First, it was the Leader acting on ‘credible evidence’ as it related to the exchange between the General Secretary and Ms. Kissoon, thus the use of a so-called constitutional provision and suspended her: When it became clear that his decision cannot stand the test of public scrutiny and flies in the face of natural justice, the party, in a press release, attempted to fuse a series of unrelated events to justify the leader’s action.

Even in this failed attempt at Public relations, not one iota of evidence was presented indicating that Ms. Kissoon was and is in possession of the keys to the office.
What was clear in the party’s latest bid to save face was that, despite the resistance from members in the region to the imposition of a coordinator, without meaningful consultation, they are still members of the party central leadership, with the proclivity to circumvent the will of the members, internal party democracy and stability of a critical constituency of the party in their quest for vindictive pursuits.
The office which is the subject of this controversy and the party infrastructure under its remit, was dysfunctional for years; and during this period there was no attempt to wrestle positions from the previous leaders. Now, while a concerted effort is in place to mobilise the party, re-enforce its institutional capacity and prepare it for any ensuing political action by a group of young proactive leaders, efforts are in motion to dislodge this.
Therefore, the only inference that can be drawn from this continuous saga is that Ms. Kissoon finds herself among a group of young leaders who are rising in popularity and their political work and adumbrations are exposing the incompetence of their colleagues at the highest levels, therefore every effort must be made to curtail them. However, unlike the other members of this rising star grouping, Ms. Kissoon is most vulnerable, not only because she is a woman, but because her political nemesis have at their disposal the recall legislation as a tool to intimidate her and is building a case to use it.
However respected and successful leaders are – not those who find and use unorthodox methods to out-manoeuvre their opponents, but those who stand for, believe in and subscribe to the fundamental principles, Ms Kissoon’s fight is one of principle; therefore surrendering is not an option, thus in time she will be exonerated, because she has age, her constituency, and most of all, the Lord on her side.

BEVON CURRIE