Poor Aubrey Norton. Yeah, your Eyewitness is talking about the Leader of the Opposition (LOO). Old people advise, “Be careful what you wish for”, and Norton’s short stint as the Opposition Leader is an object lesson illustrating the truth of that aphorism. Right after their breakup in 1970, the Beatles released one of their most poignant and heartbreaking songs ever: “A long and winding road”. By then their personal relations had been shattered – a far cry from the heady days when they’d clawed themselves out of the grime of Liverpool through their music.
YSM teenager Aubrey Norton might’ve been then marching in Burnham’s Mass Games during the Republic Celebrations, but, surely, he would’ve heard the soulful lyrics over the radio. McCartney had Ray Charles in mind when he wrote the song, and you can tell!! So, ever since Hoyte kicked Norton as General Secretary out of the PNC back in 1998 – with the cruel taunt that he, Norton, was his “creature”, the lad from Linden must’ve thought McCartney was channelling his tortured mind. “Many times, I’ve been alone/And many times I’ve cried/Any way you’ll never know/The many ways I’ve tried. And still, they lead me back/To the long winding road/You left me standing here/A long time ago/ Don’t leave me waiting here/ Lead me to your door.”
Norton, of course, would’ve had the PNC as his object of longing – and his “sin” was wanting a leadership change after Hoyte had lost two elections!! He never gave up on the PNC, though; and when Hoyte called out his base into the streets with his “slow fyaah, mo’ fyaah” strategy, Norton was there in the blaze of the sun and the heat of the night, massing the troops. But as far as leadership was concerned, in the years that followed, it seemed he’d remain the bridesmaid and never become the bride. He just couldn’t move up the leadership ranks! At the time, with him and Corbin having the same pugnacious claim to fame, that wasn’t surprising!!
He had been stymied in the Georgetown PNC elections by Volda in 2009, then by Granger in 2011 for national leadership – all because he didn’t have a PNC godfather. But the long and winding road seemed to have come to an end at the end of 2021 – after a wide swathe of the membership and leadership concluded that Granger was too “soft”, and elected him LOO. But here it is, only a year later, a PNC group from Florida, led by Larry London – of Durban Park Stadium fame – has filed a “no-confidence motion” against him!!
Why?? Well, frankly, because he insists he should try acting more like an Opposition Leader than an uncouth street tough who refuses to shake hands with his political rival!!
…to the wild men’s agenda
So, what is it Norton’s detractors want him to do?? Well, basically, that he should be in the streets leading the PNC’s masses to storm the PPP’s Government barricades!!! He shouldn’t be in Parliament to do what oppositions in democracies are supposed to do: show the populace his party can do better for the country than the incumbent, and win the next election. Nah…that’s too tame!! He should be brucking up the place like Hoyte did with his slow fyaah, mo fyah rage!!
Never mind that neither Hoyte nor his successor could take power through that route, and had to do a complete volte face and become a kinder, gentler PNC by discarding even its name with a Bible-thumping (or church-knee-dropping leader!! Right now, he’s being told that he should’ve thrown his body in front of the excavator (not bulldozer)) at Mocha.
And then marched on to the city, picking up his supporters like lemmings along the East Bank!!!
…to expired strategies
The question for Norton is whether present PNC supporters will follow the storm-the-bastions strategy, that’s never delivered progress to them, or opt for giving democracy a chance.
Mocha voted 28 to 7 for the latter!!
