IT looks as though Mr David Granger is steadily losing control of his party. One look at the last sitting of Parliament leaves a lot of speculation about his ability to control his party members. First, there was Volda Lawrence who claimed she was sick for one vote, abstained for another and then was unsure of her party’s position for yet another vote. Then there is Carl Greenidge who took the position to vote against the funding for Amerindian projects despite his leader’s instruction to abstain.

Such public acts of insubordination are not typical of the PNC and would have certainly never been tolerated by neither Forbes Burnham nor Desmond Hoyte when they led the party. Though Granger is fairly new to the leadership of the Opposition and there is much for him to learn on how to lead, it is disappointing to see him publicly humiliated by his own party members.
If such insolence can be had at the parliamentary level, it does not require a stretch of imagination to presume what would happen should one of the infamous PNC protests occur. Can he control a crowd of protestors? If he cannot control the fairly educated parliamentarians in the House, then how can he be expected to control the multitude of ignorant followers that take to the streets ever so often?
Volda Lawrence is now under “investigation” for breaking ranks, but no word has been mentioned about Greenidge. Is this Granger’s sexism on display for wanting to make a public spectacle of the woman and not publicly chide Greenidge for an equally heinous crime in the business of politics?
Lawrence is now insisting that she did not break ranks and voted with her party, but that the Clerk did not hear her vote hence it was never recorded. This sounds like a game of “catch me if you can” since the time for an appeal has long gone and if her fellow parliamentarians sitting immediately to her left and to her right did in fact hear her vote, knowing she was unwell, I am sure one of them would have brought the matter to the ever attentive Clerk to set the record straight. But since no one appealed the matter, it seems as if Mrs Lawrence might be pulling a sleight of hand special.
Granger will soon enough realise that his weak leadership is being observed by his second in command, Greenidge, who will run against him at the next congress. It would seem prudent for Granger to display his authority by publicly chiding the dissenters or face the consequence of being seen as a pushover and lose more than just two members to public opinion and rumour.

RICHARD PAUL