Outgoing leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), David Granger, in a pre-recorded address to the 21st Biennial Congress urged that the party change its political culture in order to suppress factionalism.
Granger, who is attending the Congress; having left the country on Tuesday to go to Cuba as he “attends to matters of his health”, had been facing much mounting pressure from within the party for him to step down after the PNC-lead APNU+AFC coalition was booted out of executive office after just one term.
While he was re-elected unopposed as Leader for a second term at PNC’s last Congress in 2018, Granger is out of the race this time around.
Nevertheless, during his address to the Congress earlier today, he cited past leaders influence on the direction of the party. He posited that change was a necessary condition for PNC’s progress and the people’s happiness, but noted that it should not be exploited as an instrument of self-enrichment or self-aggrandisement.
Granger also spoke of the fact that the party has been afflicted by factionalism since its very first year of existence in 1958, and called out several former members of party who have over the years left to pursue separate political careers.
“Some persons seemed not to accept that the ‘Party’ was more important than any ‘personality’; that they were elected to office not to satisfy their private hunger for wealth or their personal passion for power but to serve the people who they represented.”
To this end, Granger, who served as President from 2015 to 2020, contended that party members now realise that the present decade demands their rededication to the development of people, and urged that it should not be allowed to become another period of personal rivalry.
Moreover, he said members also realise that respect for the Party’s Constitution and Congress; recognition of the roles of elected executive officers and observance of the common codes of civility do not impede personal freedom, and are working to ensure that everyone contributes to the consolidation of the Party.
“Congress should teach the lessons of the Party’s past rifts and the excruciating experiences of its leaders. Congress’s task, in this decade, is to sustain solidarity by knitting groups together, not splitting them apart; by building up, not breaking down; by multiplying membership – not dividing and subtracting – thereby promoting public trust in the Party.”
“The Party can achieve much by changing its political culture by suppressing schisms and factionalism for the common good… People who cannot change their attitudes and conduct will never change anything,” Granger said.
Vying for the PNCR leadership now are Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon and other party executives Aubrey Norton and Dr Vincent Van West Charles.
Polls have been closed at the various polling stations across the country and votes are now being counted. So far, only Region Eight has turned in results.
