–as is the case nationally

WHAT has been evolving into an ideological rift between the Linden and national leadership in the PNC over the past few years was exacerbated over the last few months, resulting in the Region 10 Party Chairman Jermaine Figueira being effectively relinquished of the local chairmanship.

The local government campaign in Linden got into a snails-pace start and suffered from a most unusual lack of traditional mobilisation and mass momentum, beginning with the humiliating showing of a mere 12 individuals representing the party on Nomination Day in the face of an unprecedented PPP/C red-wave that took the town, country and diaspora by storm.

Sources inside the PNC/APNU have since laid the blame squarely at the feet of party leader and Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton, who made the decision to begin sidelining the party’s Region 10 Chairman, Central Executive Member and star Member of Parliament, Jermaine Figueira, who is also currently Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), arguably the most powerful structural creature of the National Assembly.

Credible sources inside the party’s national power structure revealed to this publication that the embarrassment the party suffered throughout the campaign nationally and particularly in Linden, with no more than two cars full of candidates and activists led by Sharma Solomon and Vanessa Kissoon showing up at all the campaign public meetings was solely of Norton’s making.
In Linden, the party’s campaigns culminated with a highly embarrassing paid taxi-filled motorcade of no more than 40 cars in the last lap, with Norton himself as the featured speaker, and a scant showing of a few dozen party faithfuls at the highly publicised DJ Magnum final rally with Simona Brooms seemingly coming to the rescue.

It is believed that this political travesty for the PNC-APNU in the heart of its base, had its genesis in the months prior to the election season.

The sources indicated that MP Figueira’s supposed growing impatience with the mediocre leadership from fellow countryman Norton over the past year, came to a head when Figuera defied his party leader with the shaking of the President’s hand during an impromptu visit to the synthetic track at Bayrock in Linden back in January.

The sources said that Norton became incensed at the public show of defiance when Figueira turned up at the Bayrock ground ahead of President, Dr. Irfaan Ali’s arrival there and proceeded to greet the President with a firm handshake when he entered the facility.

Immediately following the encounter which was being live streamed, it was reported that Norton placed a cuss-down call to the local leader with threats of removal from his chairmanship post over what he believed to be a grossly disloyal gesture from his lieutenant.

Norton then followed through on the threats after summoning all MPs to Congress Place a few days later to read the riot act for a collective show of loyalty on his handshake posture, where it is reported by multiple sources that Figuera told Norton in no uncertain terms that he will not be part of any such infantile political tactics that are counterproductive to the quality of representation needed for the prevailing national dispensation.

The selection of Sharma Solomon and Vanessa Kissoon as leading candidates on the Linden list for the Local Government Elections, with Solomon presumably tapped to become the next Mayor, and the current Regional Chairman Deron Adams becoming the de facto party chairman and campaign manager, were further points of irritation for Figuera, this newspaper has learnt.
It is believed that Figuera has held deep-seated and mixed views about the overly radical posture and course of action taken by Solomon and Kissoon during the eight-month long electricity rates protest in 2012, which resulted in the unfortunate loss of life of three residents and no fruitful outcomes, save an agreement for Linden to get its own television station.

It is reported that this tension was further deepened when Solomon attempted to chorale the establishment of the community-owned television station agreed to in negotiations with the Donald Ramotar government, and which eventually became the sole material outcome of the negotiations as a personal reward.

It is reported that when the licensing materialised during the reign of the Coalition Government, Solomon purportedly attempted to convert the project into a private business operation for himself, resulting in the collapse of the entire process to operationalise the long fought after TV station. In both instances, there were clear indications that Figueira thought the overarching interests of the people were senselessly betrayed.

Prior to the start of the LGE campaign, the embattled MP who is still Chair of the PAC, began publishing a series of opinion editorials focusing on a slew of national development related topics and issues.

Chief among them to date was his championing of the transformational potential of the Gas-to-Energy project of the Ali administration.

Our sources tell us that the relationship already at breaking point by this time between him and Norton became explosive on the publication of this particular Op Ed, with Norton orchestrating rumours of a possible switching of sides by Figuera, in an effort to discredit him.

This publication has spoken to several well-placed Lindeners who have expressed deep concerns about the fallout that the sidelining of the extremely popular Figuera will continue to have on the party’s Linden base, and the negative impact this decision has had on the party’s performance at the just concluded LGE polls, in effect a double-negative for the PNC-APNU.

Many shared the view that in the post Bynoe (former Member of Parliament Phillip Bynoe) era, Figueira emerged as the party’s most effective mobiliser and influencer, until his popularity was hijacked in Solomon’s premature and ill-advised bid through the deadly protest action, to propel himself into the coveted Comrade Leader chair of the PNC.

This contention vindicated the sources claims, when Solomon did indeed launch a brazen but short-lived challenge to Granger’s hegemony, alongside his fellow countryman Norton.

Those who seem to be reeling from what they see as both a strategic and tactical mistake in Norton’s pandering to Solomon and Kissoon, claim that their man Figueira is among a few in the party’s national leadership who have embraced a smarter, more matured and magnanimous kind of political disposition needed by the party, to ensure transformational development comes to the town of Linden to enable the party’s base supporters to benefit from equitable shares of empowerment from the country’s oil resources being employed in the national transformational thrust of President Ali.

Those persons also pointed to the damage suffered from the absence of the MP from the LGE campaign altogether, with a single appearance only at the final rally, followed by a series of last-minute social media posts by him, as an interjection brokered through direct pleadings from some national executives for a rescue effort of sorts, as was also seen in the ninth hour appearance by former President Granger.

While the PNC-APNU candidates were able to hold on to all eight constituencies, the realities in the numbers reveal that more than half of the PNC base supporters stayed away from the polls, while the PPP/C’s manifesto-based messaging for municipal transformation after 53 years of one-party rule at the Linden M&TC, apparently resonated well with the electorate and allowed the national incumbent to make significant inroads into all of those geographic areas, increasing support by hundreds of valid votes over its 2016 and 2018 performances in those very areas.

The overall outcome in fact showed the governing party increasing its total votes by a whopping 512 per cent over its 2018 results, and gaining an additional seat at the Mayor and Town Council.
That party was only able to walk away with a single PR seat in 2018, but now has two seats following the conclusion of the 2023 LGE.

Figueira’s political career now seems to be in the balance that Sharma Solomon and Deron Adams have consolidated some amount of grass-roots support through their radical race-based, dog-whistle campaign tactics deployed in the final days of the campaign in desperate attempts to bring out the vote; and have seemingly found favour with the party’s leader Norton.

Figuera is said to be contemplating a sabbatical of sorts from politics to concentrate on his highly impactful charity work with the international organisation, Caring for Others Inc, with a large following in tow.

Just this week, mere days after the local government elections, he was seen hosting the White House medal recipient founder and head of the organisation Ms. Eslene Richmond Shockley, at a series of charity outreaches in Linden.

It is left to be seen how Norton intends to mend the significant fracture in the Linden base of support, with Figueira’s tacit withdrawal into the background at the local level and with General and Regional elections a mere stone’s throw away.