Granger omits Vanessa Kissoon from list

Flashback! Presidential Candidate David Granger holds hands with Sharma Solomon and Vanessa Kissoon in a show of “unity” during their meeting in Linden on March 15

…fulfils Selman’s “barefoot and pregnant” prediction

Former Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) Member of Parliament, Vanessa Kissoon has been omitted from all three of the candidates’ lists for the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition, drawing condemnation in some quarters, especially in the mining town of Linden.

Granger, who had confirmed that Kissoon was not on the lists before the coalition officially released the lists to the public, explained that there were set criteria to determine who would be on the lists. He explained that Kissoon, who had fallen out with him and the General Secretary last year, had already served two terms as a parliamentarian.

“No, she is not on the list,” he said when questioned by another media house.”Well, we have a balanced list. She served two terms…We have a list of criteria and that criteria was applied because of the work that is ahead of us,” he said.

There were early rumours about Kissoon being omitted from the lists and People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) supporter Minette Bacchus wrote in a letter which appeared in the Stabroek News that the decision was unfair. Bacchus said Kissoon was a special kind of politician who did not come along often, and because of her rarity and commitment to politics as a force to bring about positive change and improve the lives of those she represented, she deserved to be on the 2015 List of Representatives and return as a Member of Parliament.

A month ago when former APNU MP Africo Selman spoke at her first People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) meeting at Yarrowkabra, her home village, she predicted just this outcome given Kissoon’s estrangement from the Granger faction in the PNCR. The schoolteacher, whose role had been miniaturised in Parliament by Granger, offered other illustrations of Granger’s alleged anti-women proclivities: “Vanessa Kissoon is feeling the victimisation from Granger…but unlike me, she wants to continue inside the PNC. I would like to tell her that she will be destroyed, because there is no space for her unless she wants to be a lapdog for Granger.”

Selman said, “She should reflect what happened to Faith Harding, who had been brought into the party by Mr [Desmond] Hoyte. She was rigged out of her chance to become a leader of the PNC. Even if she would have lost, she should have been given a fair chance. She had earned that right.”

Selman condemned what she called the “sheer hypocrisy” and “window dressing” occurring with the PNCR and APNU as she called on Guyanese present at the PPP/C’s meetings to take a stance against the abuse, misuse and maltreatment of women in politics. “They are saying one thing and doing another. They are using women as a front and they are ill-treating and sidelining them behind the scenes,” she said as she shared her own experiences with the crowd. “They want to just keep us ‘barefoot and pregnant’.” Bacchus in her letter had said, “Unfortunately, there is a move afoot to deny Ms Kissoon the opportunity to be on the List with the aim of denying her return to Parliament.”

She related that Kissoon’s suffering began in a targeted way in February 2014 after she demanded that Amna Ally speak to her with respect.

“The process began with Ms Kissoon being moved to the back bench in Parliament without any regard for civility in public engagement or prior notification. When Mr Granger was questioned about this decision, he said that it was nothing more than an administrative move. The situation continues to deteriorate.”

Bacchus had said that one of the excuses the party is coming up with is that persons should not serve more than two terms, “even as the leadership ignores the fact that according to this argument Amna Ally, Basil Williams, George Norton and Volda Lawrence should not be on the List of Representatives.”

When the APNU+AFC held their first campaign rally in Linden on March 15 it had appeared that Kissoon and Sharma Solomon had resolved their differences with the leadership of the PNCR as they took to the stage with Granger and other top executives of the party at the coalition’s campaign meeting.   Kissoon was given a front seat on stage and was embraced and engaged by most of the party’s members after the rally had ended. She was also chosen to give the vote of thanks.

In an invited comment to the Guyana Times on whether the wounds between the party and herself had been truly healed, Kissoon responded “my presence here tonight speaks for itself, it really speaks for itself”.

The issue of Kissoon’s and Solomon’s falling out with the hierarchy of the PNCR spilled over at the party’s Congress last year, which was mired in chaos and claims of rigging. Granger was returned to the helm of the party, but not before Solomon and Aubrey Norton had pulled out of the contest.