RACKING up years of experience in service, People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) member Thandi McAllister is positive that she is the ideal candidate to serve as one of the party’s next vice-chairs.

In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, she affirmed that despite seven others vying for the same position, she brings to the table a unique array of talents and expertise that none other contending can mirror.

In1994, at the age of 12, McAllister began participating in PNC-related activities although, as policy goes, she had to wait until the age of 14 to become an official member.
When she became of age, she joined the youth arm of the PNCR, the Guyana Youth and Students Movement (GYSM) in her home village of Uitvlugt on the West Coast of Demerara (WCD).

Although just a teen, McAllister did not allow this to limit her ability, as she efficiently performed her duties to the point where she was continuously promoted to higher positions.

At 14, she served as the Treasurer of her Uitvlugt GYSM; at 15, she became the Regional Assistant Secretary/Treasurer of the GYSM in Region Three; then at 25 she became the junior-vice chairperson and later the National Chairperson of the GYSM the same year.
Asked what she believes the leaders at the time saw within her to entrust her with such responsibilities at her age, McAllister responded:

“The People’s National Congress is always attracted to talented young people. Young people who the party, over the years, has [sic] groomed for leadership. So, I surmise that there was some amount of talent which the leaders of that time recognised in me and thought it fit to groom me for leadership.”

Pulling back the curtains a bit further to her other influences, McAllister also credited her grandmother as one who groomed her for public speaking, coupled with the McAllister family line known for its association with the PNCR. “I did a lot of touring locally with my grandmother. She was a member of a number of societies and groups, so everywhere she went so did I. So, there was always an opportunity for me to say a poem or as she would have said, ‘a recitation’,” McAllister recalled fondly, adding:
“So, I guess it was just her nurturing perhaps what she saw as being naturally imbedded in me as an individual.” Even in school, she would participate in national spelling bee competitions, debates and elocution competitions and more.

Fast forward to 24 years later, apart from being Regional Vice-Chairperson of the party group, McAllister serves as representative of the Central Executive Committee of the PNCR group in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara).

With her candidacy for the position of Vice-Chairperson of the PNCR, she strongly believes that her years in the party has now provided her with an edge of experience and expertise which she can add to the party’s leadership.

“I think what all of that has done is given [sic] me a level of preparedness that is unlike any other to join the leadership of the party in promoting the interest, not only of the party, but the interest of all Guyana,” she confidently stated.

The 36-year-old is a maritime attorney-at-law, having graduated as valedictorian of the International Maritime Administration’s (IMO) International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI).
If elected, McAllister intends to advocate for constitutional reform in order to strengthen the party’s democracy and policy formulation, relative to key sectors such as oil and gas for the benefit of Guyanese.

Speaking about the latter, she said: “Having had training in International Maritime Law, I do believe that I do have the skills set necessary to aid party policy formulation in the oil-and-gas sector.”

She will also push for investments in the GYSM to improve the party’s appeal to young people and consolidation of the party’s base through programmes dedicated to improving self-sufficiency of members and supporters. When asked whether she was concerned about the other candidates vying for the same position, she replied:
“In this process one can either win or learn, so there’s no need to worry. All of the candidates who have presented themselves to the delegates, all of us, we bring talent and our own unique expertise to the table.”

She then added: “Having been groomed in the party for 24 years…I understand the policies and objectives of the People’s National Congress Reform. I embrace those policies and objectives and it is against that backdrop and the fact that I am still considered young that I represent the future of the People’s National Congress Reform. That is why I am the ideal candidate.”