Your Eyewitness is quite chuffed that Aubrey Norton, the new Leader of the PNC (ain’t no “R’ no mo’!), is holding weekly press conferences. This was one of the signal failures of his predecessor Granger, who held three of them in his five-year presidency!! Talk about being reclusive!! Especially when the man had a post- graduate diploma (?) in journalism from an American college, and produced a news magazine – Guyana Review – for years. But this serves the PNC right for picking a former Army head who’d never been questioned by any other than his Comrade Leader, Burnham!!
Now, your Eyewitness wishes Norton well. If for no other reason that the PNC ain’t going nowhere for quite a while – and the rest of Guyana better get used to that. A political movement as entrenched as the PNC can become quite dangerous if there isn’t a leader who’s in sync with its followers.
While Norton might take umbrage at an invocation of a Gandhian aphorism – your Eyewitness suspects, (with some evidence!) that their conkie don’t mix! – Gandhi did advise, “There goes my people, I must catch up, since I am supposed to be their leader!” And Gandhi did know a thing or two about mobilisation!
So, it’s in that spirit that your Eyewitness offers this bit of advice to the new “Comrade Leader” – as his handpicked Chairman addressed him. Is this a signal that his PNC is still “socialist”? Which brand? Anyhow, it was clear that Norton was too wound up at the presser. While he clearly doesn’t want to come over as avuncular as Granger – he couldn’t bring THAT off, even if he tried! – he can’t be so querulous with his answers to the burning questions of the day!! And querulous he was – petulant, touchy, testy, tetchy, waspish, prickly – when a PNC-friendly reporter asked him about the status of his talks with Joseph Harmon – the Leader of the Opposition (LOO) – and David Granger – the Representative of the APNU/AFC List (RAAL).
After all, when he won the leadership, he assumed the two worthies would “do the right thing” and resign, so that he could step into their shoes. In fact, even BEFORE he won, he assumed they’d do so, because he’d already announced who he’d be sending to Parliament etc. That assumed he had their powers and authority!! And maybe THAT was his undoing – those two fellas clearly aren’t fans of Spike Lee!! And furthermore, when he discovered the aforementioned fact, he did say he’d be meeting with them, since by the rules of the game, he couldn’t make a move without ultimately Granger’s blessings.
Your Eyewitness advises a bit of humble pie – especially to lowly journalists!! Even worms turn!!
…of brotherly love
If it’s one thing one has to give Guyana credit for, it’s our support for Caricom ever since Burnham was one of its founders back in 1973. Even when they stayed quiet during the Burnhamite elections-rigging, Guyanese who fled to their shores were grateful – even as they chafed at the third-class treatment meted out to them. Burnham had reduced them to beggars – and beggars can’t be choosers!
Well, our patience is really being tested right now, after TT’s Chairman of Massy made quite a nasty, underhanded move to claim our Local Content Law was violating Caricom’s Treaty of Chaguaramas. This is dirty pool, because Trinidad hid its Local Content Law under its “Procurement Law”, and this was even more stringent that ours!! At least ours have exemptions and percentages!! And Massy had to’ve known about this subterfuge, since they were one of its biggest beneficiaries!!
Your Eyewitness repeats his call for all Guyanese to send a message to Massy: give their supermarkets a wide berth!!
…incompetency
The Power Producer and Distribution Inc. (PPDI) was established by the PNC in 2016 to replace Wartsila’s responsibility for our electricity generators.
The SNAFU about a possible explosion at Garden of Eden causing massive blackouts is a reminder to check their performance.
