THE still unresolved issues that have led to the current wars raging within the precincts of the People’s National Congress(PNC) is as shocking, for its still unresolved status, as it is surprising, for the cavalier manner that party leader, David Granger, has been treating with such a very serious matter that continues to damage the party’s image. It once again sheds light on the leader of this senior parliamentary Opposition party.
That the last biennial congress of this party exposed his inadequacies as leader, reflecting his ill-advised decision to enter into the political jungle; but also his ill-perceived understanding of what are its testing moments and how to deal with the arising challenges.
A political party is not a military institution as Granger should by now have learnt. Though, like any other organisation, it must be guided by rules that make for its daily functioning, inclusive of a code of discipline – its particular peculiarity is that it is dealing with the business of the nation. Therefore, it is governed by a traditional culture of membership, drawn from varied social backgrounds that will challenge positions, ranging from the very apex of the party. This is traditional.
Had Granger understood this truism, he would have never dealt with the popular Region 10 Member of Parliament, Vanessa Kissoon, in the manner of a military officer, expecting her to remain silent. He totally mis-read the seething resentment and outright disapproval that such undemocratic action stirred among the party’s pivotal support base at Linden, concomitant with the MP’s defiance. The fact that he, as leader, did not think it necessary to resolve whatever disagreement there was with her and respective aggrieved parties, points to his utter disregard for the party’s constituents at Linden.
The subsequent implosion at the Party’s August congress, the epicentre of which was the undemocratic locking out of the Linden delegation that had intended to challenge Granger’s position of leadership, was the full circle drawn on the reality of his stewardship. It was a disgraceful act of trampling the democratic process of free and fair elections, even at party level. But such was not an accident, for this has been the sine qua non of PNC’S internal politics, that has its precedent at the national level, in the form of successive rigged national elections.
To now be scrambling to mend fences with the Linden party grouping, but still intending not to accept their outright rejection of an unpopular choice of regional party coordinator, will do no good for the already fractious state of affairs that exists within the Party.No party leader can lay claims to being democratic unless he/she listens to the voices of the people.
This has been one of the tragedies of Granger’s leadership, because of his known aloofness. Such an attitude is contemptuous of the people; its results can only be seething discord, as is the current state of affairs within the PNC.