…in the PNC
Well, whadya know?? Old man Granger really thinks he can take over the PNC at the age of 75, to contest the 2025 elections when he’ll be 80!! Even Ronald Reagan – the oldest to be elected to the US Presidency before Trump – was only 77 when he COMPLETED his SECOND term!! And how does Granger plan to continue running the PNC?? Well, by pulling a Desmond Hoyte of sorts. Ironic, since Hoyte hated his guts!!
When Burnham unexpectedly expired at 62, his next in command as PM was Desmond Hoyte, whom Burnham had only as a placeholder because he knew the thuggish Hamilton Green was champing at the bit to challenge even him!! Hoyte had never really been a “party man” in the sense of being among the grassroots, but after his stint in Burnham’s law offices, at least he was IN the party – unlike Granger!! He’d always been rather aloof, and at 56, he wasn’t going to change: how would he remain head of the PNC – especially with a furious Hamilton Green plotting a putsch.
Hoyte decided on a “divide and conquer” strategy. Calculating that Burnham’s socialist cooperative experiment had failed ignominiously, he decided to get rid of all the Burnhamites in the PNC in one fell swoop!! Some he banished by giving them ambassadorships, some by making their positions redundant, and others – like Granger – by not promoting them into power positions. He announced the need for “new blood” in the party, and brought in a raft of persons from outside the political arena – like Trotman and Clarissa Riehl, for instance. Point was, these persons owed their political existence to Hoyte, so he could count on their loyalty as his “creatures”.
As your Eyewitness had indicated yesterday, at the PNC Central Executive Council meeting last weekend, Granger had co-opted two of his cronies – Harmon and Broomes – into the highest decision-making body. He must’ve calculated he needed two more votes to carry his decisions!! He later revealed he’d also had the CRC approve 10 criteria for appointing MPs to the next Parliament.
With his usual sanctimonious style, he dubbed these “The Ten Commandments”!!
But there was nothing ethical about these – being simply reasons he could now give for excluding anyone he doesn’t want to become MP, and so challenge him. For instance, he declared that those who’d previously been MPs could be left off the list, since he wanted to give “youngsters” a chance!! Yeah right!! There go old heads who might’ve had support at the grassroots!!
And he reminded all and sundry that he possessed the power of recall if any MP dared not do his bidding!!
In other words, they’re all his “creatures”.
…and the PNC’s reaction
As your Eyewitness has been emphasising ever since he was rigged into the PNC leadership, David Granger isn’t a thinker. He just remembers what his predecessors – especially his mentor Burnham – did, then imitates them regardless of the changed circumstances. So, as he tries to remain at the PNC’s helm, he ignores that he’s not a true-blue PNC, but comes out of the army – which old line PNCites see as a SUPPORTING institution. Burnham had announced it was the PARTY that was paramount over all …not the GDF!
In your Eyewitness’s estimation, there’s no way the die-hard PNCites would let Granger get away with usurping the PNC’s legitimacy. They’d brought him in to put some lipstick on the reprehensible image the PNC had earned since Burnham had sold out to the British, and then rigged his way to power for the next two decades. His sanctimonious public mask did work for a while.
But after Mingo, of what use is he, now that he’s been unmasked as “The Sanctimonious Gangster”??
…and politics
Granger’s desperate attempt to hold on to power in the PNC, after he failed to do so over the country, will unfortunately reverberate into the wider political realm.
If for nothing else than because he’ll try to out radical the young radicals!!
