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Reply to "PNCR executive members up pressure on Granger over Congress, `shell’ parties"

Major rift in PNC/R Exec over APNU ‘new parties’

Jul 18, 2021 News, Source - https://www.kaieteurnewsonline...er-apnu-new-parties/

– Volda Lawrence confirms support of anti-Granger release

Kaieteur News – A major rift now exists among members of the People’s National Congress Reform’s (PNCR) Central Executive Committee (CEC) following claims that the party’s leader, David Granger, unilaterally inducted two new parties into A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).

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Elected member of the PNCR’s CEC, Aubrey Norton

This rift came to light after the media recently reported on an unsigned statement by some members of the CEC accusing Granger of turning PNCR into a “one man show”.

The statement was reportedly circulated to party members just moments before a virtual observance of APNU’s 10th anniversary.

It is believed that some of the CEC members decided to make the statement after they saw the new parties’ symbols affixed to the programme of the anniversary observance.

The two new parties are the Equal Rights and Justice Party (ERJP) led by former Minister, Jaipaul Sharma and the Guyana Nation Builders Movement (GNBM) formed by current Member of Parliament, Tabitha J. Sarabo-Halley.

Both Sharma and Sarabo-Halley were members of the Justice for All Party (JFAP) and the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), respectively – two parties that pulled out from APNU following disagreements over different issues in the aftermath of the APNU+AFC’s loss of the 2020 elections.

According to the unsigned statement, PNCR had never agreed to accept the recently formed parties into APNU. The CEC members behind the statement are of the view that they might be shell “parties”. It was stated too that the CEC, in its last meeting, had instructed Granger and PNCR’s General Secretary, Amna Ally to put the admission of ERJP and GNBM on hold.

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Elected member of the CEC, Dr. Richard Van-West Charles.

The reason for this, the statement revealed was to facilitate a full discussion on the status of the partnership. Despite this decision, the statement claimed that Granger went ahead and publicly advertised that PNCR has accepted the “shell parties” as part of the APNU.

This alleged move was labeled as a “one-man-show” in the unsigned statement and its authors detailed that PNCR will not allow Granger “to get away with it”.

Calls were made too for members of the party to decide which side of history they want to be on.

“Are we going to be on the side of history and good practice and abide by the constitution of our great party or are we going to accept these breaches of our constitution and unilateral decision making?” was the question posed in the unsigned statement.

Moreover, the authors opined that PNCR knows nothing about these parties.

Claims were even made that ERJP and GNBM were never launched nationally and that PNCR is unaware of the benefits they can bring to the table before even considering to accept them into the partnership.

Forty-eight hours later, five members of the PNCR’s CEC signed a letter that was sent to editors of the various media houses; in the letter, they disassociated themselves from the views of their colleagues who made the unsigned statement.

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Leader of the Guyana Nation Builders Movement (GNBM), Tabitha J. Sarabo-Halley.

Those members are, Jennifer Ferreira-Dougal, Shurwayne Holder, Ganesh Mahipaul, Ernest Elliott and Annette Ferguson.

A section of the letter read, “PNCR disassociates itself from the ‘Statement.’ We wish to point out that the CEC did not authorise, and does not endorse the public disclosure of discussion of internal Party matters under current consideration by the Central Executive Committee”.

The five referred to their colleagues as a minority group of cowards who are not brave enough to affix their names to the statement.

“We denounce, most emphatically, the personal attacks against our constitutionally-elected party Leader, Mr. David Granger, by a minority of persons who did not have the courage to affix their names to the ‘Statement’ but who claimed, cowardly, to write on behalf of the entire CEC”, they stated in the letter.

The five also argued that the decision to accept the two parties into APNU was made by the APNU Executive Council (AEC), the Partnership’s highest decision-making body.

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Leader of Equal Rights and Justice Party (ERJP), Jaipaul Sharma

They posited too that the decision was made in “a properly constituted meeting held on Thursday, June 10, 2021.”

Kaieteur News made contact yesterday with the Chair of the PNC/R, Volda Lawrence with regard to her view on the two letters. The former Minister of Health and second-in-charge of the Party, referred this newspaper to the letter published in Stabroek News and stated that what was reported is accurate and she stands by that. The SN report had carried the full unsigned letter and stated that the paper had confirmed its accuracy with two members of the CEC although it had not named them.

Speaking with this publication yesterday, Amna Ally, PNCR’s General Secretary, said that the second letter signed by the five does not represent the views of all CEC members – information provided by the Party yesterday showed a membership of 36 active members. Ally said that while she does not know how many members and who are behind the unsigned statement, she pointed out that there are other members who support and endorse the signed letter.

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PNCR leader, David Granger

One such member is Ronald Bulkan. In an invited comment on the issue he said, “It is groundless for anyone to accuse Mr. Granger of being a ‘one-man show’.”

Bulkan continued, “The admission of the new parties into APNU was properly done in accordance with APNU’s procedures.”

When asked if a majority of the CEC members had granted Granger permission to accept the new parties, Bulkan responded, “The decision was one of APNU’s Executive Council (AEC).”

This newspaper further asked Bulkan if the PNC’s CEC has any role to play in the decision-making of the AEC or if it is protocol for PNCR’s representative on the Council to receive permission from CEC before making certain decisions.

His final response was “the letter to the media authored by Jenny Ferreira and others is clear and explicit and there is no need for me to add anything.”

Other senior members of the PNCR’s CEC have disagreed with Bulkan’s views and have informed Kaieteur News that they do not approve of the letter signed by their colleagues.

Dr. Richard Van-West Charles, after stating that he does not support the letter, explained that members on the AEC represent the various parties of the partnership.

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Treasurer of CEC, Ronald Bulkan

Van-West Charles continued, that before casting any votes, it is only right for those representatives to consult with their respective parties first. He added that CEC which is the highest decision-making body within the PNCR after congress had held a meeting about the inclusion of the new parties in APNU. It was decided, Van West-Charles continued, to put the decision-making on hold. He recalled too that, the Chairman of the Committee meeting, Lawrence, had asked for persons to raise their hands if they had any objection.

“No one had raised their hands,” Van-West Charles told Kaieteur News.
He went on to point out that despite it being ruled that the decision-making be put on hold, Granger still went ahead and accepted the two new parties.

The senior CEC member also highlighted that when APNU was being formed, former PNCR leader, Robert Corbin had made it clear that he was instructed by the CEC to make the decisions.

Another member of CEC who does not endorse the second letter is Aubrey Norton. He said his colleagues who signed the letter are not even elected members of the CEC but Regional Representatives. Norton was correct about that with the exception of Annette Ferguson who is an elected member and Vice-Chair of the Party.

He did not comment any further but in relation to the acceptance of the new , he said that CEC had made a decision on the matter and he will address it at the level of the committee. Both Van-West Charles and Norton, as well as Lawrence, are expected to contest Granger’s leadership position at the party’s Congress, which is expected to be held later this year.

Kaieteur News contacted other CEC members, five of whom declined to comment while others claimed to have not seen the signed letter. The remaining members did not answer their phones.

In the past month alone, the CEC has seen three significant resignations, all citing that the direction of the party’s present leadership is ill-suited.
Thandi McAllister, an attorney-at-law and Legal Counsel at the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), had left in June. In a press release, McAllister was quoted as saying that she decided to resign after a very careful and agonising consideration and concluding that the present direction of PNCR’s leadership is ill-suited to the fulfillment of the aspirations of young people in Guyana.

Brian Smith, a former member of the party who served for some 15 years chose to not to renew his membership in June as well. He had criticised the party’s leadership of backward thinking and said that he is not prepared to be burdened by older fights. Another who had resigned for similar reasons too was businessman, Shawn Hopkinson.

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