THE leadership of my party never seems to stop amazing me. Every time there is a window of opportunity for the party to position itself to remove the PPP from government, a group of people work assiduously to impede that opportunity. Let me give two recent examples for emphasis.

When the late Mr. Winston S. Murray C.C.H, MP, initiated the system for the selection of a presidential candidate and offered himself for the position, a group of people went into action and brought Brigadier Granger, a relatively unknown and inactive member in party circles, to challenge him. As a result of the pressures from his own party, the burden of taking the parliamentary fight virtually on his own, and the daily rigours of his law practice, he succumbed on November 22, 2010.

Today, we have the distinguished Carl Greenidge, an established academic, financial and economic czar who commands tremendous respect, both at the international and local levels, offering himself to lead the party, and the same group of people are fighting to give Brigadier Granger this additional responsibility when it is clear that he is presently overwhelmed with the work of chairing APNU and managing the opposition group in Parliament.

Mr. Greenidge, in my view, is well positioned to reunite the party, since he did not emerge from a process or “group” that is perceived as responsible for the rancour in the party. He commands the respect of every operative in the party. He also has the personality and charisma to reach out beyond the boundaries of the party and make it the alternative choice to the PPP.
Most importantly, he has that rapport with the middle class and the business community to mobilise the required resources to remobilise the party from the grassroots up.

This is a quality which was clearly absent in the last regional and general elections campaign.

Mr. Greenidge being the leader of the party will allow Brigadier Granger to concentrate on building an identity for APNU, broaden the partnership, and coordinate a robust parliamentary agenda to fight the PPP in the legislature; while Mr. Greenidge will prime and strengthen the political muscles of the party to support the APNU in its political battles, a clear win-win situation for both organisations.

This is not a question of Mr. Granger’s credentials or ability; this is a case of pragmatism — what is best for the two organisations, and to prevent one suffering from surrendering political space to the other because of the embedded relationship that will result in giving Mr. Granger all three hats – Leader of APNU, Leader of the Opposition, and Leader of the PNCR.
I trust that good sense will prevail, and Mr. Greenidge will be elected leader of this great party; and that the two men will work together to set the stage for the ultimate removal of the PPP regime.