THE legal leader of the PNC is Aubrey Norton. There has been no congress or specially convened congress to elect a new leader. Mr. Norton announced that he is not resigning as leader after the tsunamic sinking of the PNC in the 2025 elections. Mr. Norton announced that he will not be re-entering parliament, but he will appoint Terrence Campbell as the head of the PNC parliamentary group.
This situation is contorted, opaque and shambolic. In political theory and practical politics, a political party cannot have a parliamentary head and have a legal head that is not in parliament. It is an unworkable formula in a country that has parliamentary democracy.
Parliament is where the political leader has to be because the possibilities of putting pressure on the government and getting involved in changing policies through parliamentary committees are endless. I have not done the research, but I doubt whether there is any party in the world where the leader operates from outside of parliament.
It could happen in Guyana because our constitution does not allow for dual citizenship. So, when it was time for ANUG to take its seat in parliament, Timothy Jonas could not be selected so ANUG went for Althia King. If King had succeeded Asha Kissoon, then the head of ANUG would not have been in parliament.
At the present time, Dorwain Bess is the head of VPAC but because he is a dual citizen, VPAC delegated Francis Bailey to represent it in parliament when it is VPAC’s turn to be in parliament as part of parliamentary sharing of the one seat Forward Guyana Movement won in the 2025 elections.
In France, Marine Le Pen resigned as leader from the National Rally to concentrate on her presidential candidacy. So, what you have was a presidential candidate that was not the head of the party.
In none of the three examples cited above is there any resemblance to what obtains in the PNC at the moment.
Understanding Terrence Campbell’s parliamentary role is simple. There is nothing complex about his status. He was appointed by Norton (important to note, not by any form of voting among PNC leaders) to lead the PNC’s presence in parliament. He is responsible for the deportment of the PNC in the House. Outside of parliament, the PNC has a leader. He is Aubrey Norton. But things became complicated three days ago.
Terrence Campbell either usurped Norton’s role or he is the de facto leader of the PNC with Norton’s blessing.
Demerara Waves (DW) has reported Campbell as saying that the PNC will hold protest today (Monday) to force cash grant payout, The Stabroek News carried in its edition yesterday (Sunday) a news item of the PNC protest march to be held today and it featured the photograph of Campbell. Campbell was the PNC person that manned the press conference where the protest action was announced.
But why should Campbell be the one to be featured in the media and at its press conference on the PNC’s demonstration against the government when Campbell is not the leader of the PNC, but its parliament point man? The PNC has a leader with responsibilities for PNC’s activism in the wider society. He is Aubrey Norton.
The obvious question is where is Norton? It can easily be answered. Norton has catapulted Terrence Campbell through the backdoor to become the de factor leader of the PNC. This very de factor leader in an interview with DW refused to cite the date of his PNC membership. He got confused. First, he told DW that he is a new member of the PNC. Then he said he could not remember when he joined. Then he said he is a member of the Alberttown PNC group, but that entity said it hasn’t met to decide on applications.
This catapulting and projecting of Campbell into the non-parliamentary activism is bound to generate resentment about PNC stalwarts who would like to succeed Norton because without exception, all PNC stalwarts with leadership ambition know that Norton’s time has come.
Interestingly, Ganesh Mahipaul has put out a Facebook post in which he describes his family history in the PNC from grandfather to father to son. His post carried a photograph of a young Mahipaul at a PNC gathering.
The story of the Campbell’s de facto leader status in the PNC is going to be one of the unique stories in politics anywhere in the world. Can someone brand new to a party suddenly become its leader?
The historical trend points toward the manifestation of legitimate expectation. This is where party stalwarts feel that their time has come when the leader bows out. Norton felt that way himself.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.
