LAST week, the pressure came to bear on the People’s National Congress, in the public domain, to say definitely when it will stage its 21st bi-annual Congress which is long overdue.
Also, a group of PNC supporters staged a very damaging picketing exercise outside of the party’s headquarters calling for answers about the Congress. Among their placards were messages according to one News Agency that read, “Joe and David stop denying democracy” and “Mr Granger, your knee is on our neck, time for congress.”

Another placard read “Your time has passed stop dividing the party, retire peacefully,” and “Mr Granger, you’re fighting to delay congress but couldn’t fight fraudulent votes.”
That aside, the ‘handpicked’ Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon told the media that the PNC congress is the PNC’s business until it decides to issue a public statement as he played down public concern about the scheduled timings of the congress. Harmon, appearing perturbed and vexed by attempts to influence the outcome of the still-to-be planned congress this or next year, suggested the picketing exercise was not done by the PNCR or the APNU. He resisted any attempts to ‘divide’ the party ahead of the decision on the courts of Guyana about the election petition.
Truth be told, that is a classic sound of someone trying to stop the wave of change, a thinking that has reemerged in the rank and file of the PNCR. Harmon’s downplaying the issues, which those protestors tried to bring to the party’s attention, is symptomatic of a leader who is in control of the party’s machinery but is hanging on by a weak and decaying thread. That thread is his old-time GDF squaddie and partner, former President David Granger, whom it appears from the look of things, has gone into hiding until he reemerges sometime later in the PNC’s story with another 4-point plan and excursion on history to ‘fix’ the party in his image.

Harmon and Granger are trying to hold on to the only semblance of power that they currently enjoy – the APNU as a party for elections.
But they are not really in control of the independent thinkers in the PNCR who blame them for the loss of the elections of 2011 and 2020. Party members and supporters are agitated at the leadership because they feel an attempt is afoot while this elections petition is being determined in the court to set up the process internally so they can win the votes of the ‘selected’ delegates.

Mr Harmon knowns the public doesn’t want him as the opposition leader in the same way they do not appreciate Mr Granger’s leadership technique which appears even now as Laissez-faire, weak and meaningless. He is holding on to a PNC which went through changes in name, personnel and purpose only to go back to its initial purpose – rigging by any means to win.
And Volda Lawrence has smelled the fear and weaknesses of the Granger’s men as has every single political novice in the game of politics. She appears quite waiting to strike at her first chance to get back the PNC out of Granger’s grip and save it from the wounds that are being inflicted by President Irfaan Ali, Bharrat Jagdeo, Anil Nandlall and the PPP. Harmon knows that compared to his one-time former Public Health Minister that he doesn’t stand a chance in the PNC circles.

And Amna Ally, who was selected by Granger as General Secretary, is unable to help him and Harmon like Oscar Clarke helped Robert Corbin fight off any battle when he was in his last days of active politics. Harmon cannot rely on the influencers and shapers of public opinions in the media landscape either because they are on Lawrence’s side of the political divide.
There is a sense of confusion in the PNC and its camp. There is no real focus on the body of policies which the opposition has adumbrated to the public in its drama-filled Budget presentations. There is no leadership and instead of fighting this losing election petition case, they are not focused on addressing the needs of their grassroots people that put them there.
Say what you will about Desmond Hoyte and Robert Corbin, at least from them the people’s needs were part and parcel of their agenda. Whatever happened to the People’s Parliament? Or leaders being a real part of the parliamentary committees that hold government accountable? Or the many debates and programmes for the PNC or opposition instead of hiding behind the clout of facebook. Why not go directly to the people and hear what are their needs and bring legislation to parliament? Why not stop trying to preserve the David Granger’s style of politics and legacy because that is marred in political debauchery.

The great duel has indeed begun. Harmon might not accept it but the race for future of the PNC and the making of its next candidate that will lead the party at the next election is taking place right behind closed doors – where the battle of rancour, politics of entitlement and politics of hate are brewing.