People’s National Congress Islahat (PNCR) Central Executive Committee (ExCo) Member Dr. Gary Best thinks one month is too short a time to call the Party’s Congress. He made this known Thursday on the programme, ‘Conversation with Rickford Burke.’ News broke Wednesday the Party is scheduled to have its 22nd Delegates Congress by June month end. Wednesday, the Party, at its Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting made the decision. Friday, at the weekly Opposition press conference, Leader of the Opposition and PNCR Leader, Aubrey Norton confirmed congress will be held from Friday June 28 to Sunday June 30, 2024.
Best, who secured the second highest vote after Norton at the 2021 Congress and played a major logistical role in running off that Congress, said the one-month timeframe is “unreasonable.”
Elaborating on his disappointment in the timeline, the ExCo member stated “more time [is] needed to prepare for a proper Congress because you get nothing out of Congress that is seemingly disorganised, our candidates are not able to get all the information and all the preparation done in time, and the date of this Congress, coming after the CEC meeting seems to suggest that it’s coming in a hurry, it’s coming too quickly, and that there isn’t sufficient time to properly prepare for this Congress.”
The former Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defense Force said his expectation is that a Congress such as the PNCR’s will be effectively managed and organised. The PNCR is one of Guyana’s two major political parties, the other being the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), that held its 32nd Delegates Congress after an absence of more than six years. That congress was marred by allegations of rigging and selection rather than free and fair election of the leadership.
It is the ret’d Rear Admiral’s considered opinion PNCR candidates should be given a level playing field and based on that view he said were he at the Wednesday ExCo meeting he would have objected to that time and impressed on the other members the wisdom of having the congress in August.
Last February Norton signaled the Congress will be held on or before August 31, 2024 but never presented a definitive date, catching many by surprised with his announcement on Friday. The Congress was constitutionally due last December.
Elaborating on the thinking behind having the congress in August, the ExCo member said usually the timeline for the Congress should be one that is favourable to all the candidates. And whilst “there’s nothing in the [party’s] constitution as to when the Congress should be held after announcement, …I expect the leadership to be reasonable.”
Addressing the issue of incumbency and reasonableness, Best, who is also an attorney-at-law, said when he argued for congress to be held at the end of August at the last ExCo meeting it was “to give participants as much time as possible, including contestants to be able to participate [and], June timeline…is insufficient for proper preparation for all the contestants because the leader has a natural advantage by being in the office.”
According to the ExCo member, the leader has the power and advantage of incumbency, and he expects if there is a contest the leader would want to give the other participants equal time so there can be better transparency and better Congress.
Dr. Gary Best, even as he expressed cautious optimism the congress could go well, also said he is trusting the PNCR doesn’t have any negative outcome from the Congress. Further, he made known, notwithstanding the politics surrounding the leadership of the party or the congress, people must not lose sight of the PNCR and coalition’s ability to win the next national elections.