…Aubrey Norton
Poor Aubrey Norton; he’s been pronounced dead, and then resurrected so many times that he can truly claim to be Guyana’s political Lazarus. Over twenty years ago, he’d been summarily fired from his post as General Secretary of the PNC by Party Leader Desmond Hoyte after one year in the post – for his rambunctious behaviour. Hoyte called Norton a “creature” of the Leader to remind him he should know his “place”.
He was brought back by Corbin, who succeeded Hoyte as PNC Leader during the “mo fyaah; slow fyaah” days, because his thug image was now seen as an asset by Corbin – who was not exactly a cupcake in that area!!
Ironically, Norton’s partisans insisted he was one of the most qualified for leadership – intellectually! But Norton ran afoul of Corbin when he was ousted as Chairman of the Georgetown District in favour of Volda Lawrence, a Corbin protégé, in 2009. Similarly, he teed off Granger when he claimed the latter beat him from the leadership position in 2011 after a “rigging” exercise by Corbin.
After 2015, he was kept in the shadows at Ministry of the Presidency, and was assigned to build up a youth base. But, like Freddy Krueger, Norton was brought to the fore after the PPP’s NCM, when the PNC needed a forceful counterattack. Granger, like Desmond Hoyte before him, wanted to change the thug image of the PNC, earned from the 1960s on the tracks of folks like Hamilton Green, Robert Corbin et al. He figured the PNC needed a “kinder, gentler” image to sidle into office without the Burnhamite riggings. And Norton certainly didn’t fit that image, so he had to be hidden away like the lunatic relative no one should see.
But after Granger stumbled during his five-month-long war of attrition to steal the elections, and was eventually ousted, many in the PNC felt Norton’s day had finally come.
In addition to his quick responses to the questions on rigging from the media camped out in front of the ACCC during the Recount, Norton maintained the aggressiveness that a large section of PNCites felt was the defining characteristic of their party.
Sadly, he was pushed aside once again when Granger decided to execute his coup within the PNC. Along with Volda and Basil, Norton was left out of the Parliamentary delegation. As Volda decided to panhandle on GoFund-Me to mount a challenge to Granger and his surrogate Harmon – who was declared Opposition Leader-in-Waiting – folks wondered what Norton would do.
Well, now we know. Harmon announced that Norton would be his mobiliser going forward. Poor Norton, he can’t shake that thug image, and once more he’s the bully boy!!
…in GECOM
Like Norton, Vincent Alexander was likewise excommunicated by Hoyte. After the latter’s passing, Alexander challenged Corbin for the leadership, but was so embarrassingly outmanoeuvred that he quit the PNC in disgust!!
Rehabilitated by his fellow Burnhamite Granger, during the 5-month rigging exercise, he became the voice of the PNC. And he’s still at it. After those private criminal charges were brought against Lowenfield, he became apoplectic, since he’d been the latter’s biggest defender when he used Mingo’s cooked-up numbers to compile his report!!
Ditto when Mingo and two of his helpers were arrested to face charges for committing electoral fraud. He was mum about Volda, who went quietly to the courts for countersigning Mingo’s fraud.
As the noose tightened, the “Flash Drive Man”, who had concocted the numbers for Mingo to release, was nabbed. And true to form, Alexander – joined by the other two PNC commissioners – rushed to his defence!!
Maybe they know something the rest of the country doesn’t, and should be hauled in??
…and woman??
And your Eyewitness returns to Volda. While he hasn’t an iota of sympathy for her personally, he’s a tad taken aback that her ouster hasn’t been picked up by the PNC’s chatterati class.
Snobbery at Volda’s vulgarity?
