THE very selection of the PNC’s parliamentarians is an acknowledgement that Aubrey Norton, its leader, no longer sees the PNC as a historic organisation. If he did then he would never have made that selection. Here are the blatant wrongs in those choices.

Mr. Terrance Campbell has never had a relation with the PNC. For the 2020 election, he was with ANUG. Then, for the 2025 poll, he was part of an AFC-led machinery to bring about a consensus candidacy from outside the PNC. Weeks before the election, Campbell went over to the PNC.

It is unknown if he has a PNC party membership card, but why would the PNC choose him to lead its parliamentary entourage when he is not even in the PNC’s general council? The PNC has a Reform dimension, and, maybe, Campbell belongs to that wing. But the principle of the PPP and PNC is that the Civic attachment and the Reform component cannot be the leader of the party.
Why Campbell and not someone from within the womb of the PNC that has parliamentary experience? Or maybe the PNC is so denuded it hasn’t got such a person, thus the reliance on Campbell. Juretha Fernandes is a political failure. Unfortunately, Norton, who chose Fernandes for parliament, did not examine the Statements of Poll.

Fernandes failed to get Amerindian votes, and failed to get Region Seven votes. The WIN party won Region Seven. She brought nothing to the table. She went over to the PNC weeks before the election, and on September 1 proved that she could not help the PNC win votes.

Her sidekick, Sherod Duncan, went over to the PNC weeks before the election, thus, in comparison with other PNC stalwarts, he should not be in parliament in front of many PNC architects. Why was Duncan chosen before Chris Jones, Ronald Daniels, Annette Ferguson and Ubraj Narine? Norton seems to be in a hurry to destroy the PNC.

The parliamentary choice is a violation of the Laws of Guyana and moral laws. The parties’ MP must be 40 per cent women. There are only three women of the 12. In terms of moral laws, there is only one Indian: Ganesh Mahipal. I have been told that Riaz Rupnarine is of mixed ethnicity. Of course, the shocking omission of Roysdale Forde must have upset David Granger and many former PNC leaders in the APNU+AFC government.

Mr. Forde is one of Guyana’s leading attorneys, and gave priceless service to the PNC. He told me last year that the long service was done pro bono. It boggles the mind that Forde could be overlooked for Dexter Todd, another newcomer to the PNC. Forde is a better lawyer than Todd, and has more political experience than Todd. How does Norton feel that the PNC will survive when he does stupid things like these?

The presence of David Hinds will certainly contribute to the eventual demise of the PNC. Hinds has not brought anything to the PNC’s campaign. Given his ethnic sermons over the past five years, the PNC should not have lost over 100,000 votes to WIN. Georgetown was divided among PPP, PNC and WIN. The PPP got African votes in Georgetown; so did WIN. Obviously, Hinds’ ethnic hymns did not convert Region Four Africans.

The selection of David Hinds as a PNC parliamentarian is bound to further alienate PNC folks who will continue to stay home or vote for the PPP and other parties. In choosing Hinds for parliament, Norton has demonstrated a slow erosion of both his intellectual and political capacity.

David Hinds does not excite or stimulate African Guyanese. Norton is so steeped in street politics that it has imprisoned him. It is for this exigent reason Norton should be ousted immediately.
Norton is yet to realise that there is a new African generation in Guyana; they do not see Norman Browne, Rickford Burke, Mark Benschop, Tacuma Ogunseye and Hinds as representatives of the African Guyanese race.

An African leader is insulting the African race in Guyana if he/she thinks that African Guyanese approve of the way Hinds, Burke and their acolytes behave. African Guyanese do not think that Leonard Craig and James Bond are backside kissers because they joined the PPP. They would welcome an intellectual discussion on why Craig and Bond went over. That is what they want; not cussing down from Burke, racial incitement from Ogunseye.

By becoming a prisoner of street politics, Norton could not have made the transition to bureaucratic leader. Because of this ignorance, he was responsible for the PNC’s 2025 electoral journey into oblivion. He will destroy the PNC sooner than later.

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.