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TIME FOR THE PARTY TO BE PARTYING?

Dec 27, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

This holiday season should find the leaders of the People’s Progressive Party in deep introspection about the state of their party, the woeful lack of leadership being demonstrated from within and the need to reshape the relationship between the party and the government it formed in 2006.
This past week, the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party rejected the contention that the opposition was being railroaded in the National Assembly. It is a disappointing statement coming from the General Secretary.
Instead of denial, it would have been better if the General Secretary had simply expressed the view that things could be better and indicated a desire for improved cooperation between the opposition and the ruling party. That at least would have avoided the constant tendency towards denial of a view that has long gained currency within the country, and that is that the opposition is not being taken seriously in the National Assembly and that the ruling party needs to be more accommodating.
The leaders of the party can make a fresh change come next year. They have what remains of this weekend, and all of next week, to give serious thought to how they are going to mend the fences. They should give serious thought to these things even as they consider who in the party itself is being railroaded by the government.
There is always a need, even in democratic societies for constant vigilance so that the lines between party and government are never blurred. Despite the fact that the party has an obligation to support the government in its policies, there is always the need for the actions of the party, however much it is congruent to those of the government, to be seen as separate and distinct from the executive. The party must thus have its own identity and exercise a mind of its own.
It must also be careful in its association with the government. Sometime ago, this column observed that a PPP fund-raising organized event was taking place on the lawns of State House. This column warned against this and expressed the wish that the PPP would not go down this route whereby it would use the official residence of the Head of State for a party activity. This column warned that it sent the wrong signal and would have best been avoided. No heed was paid to the concerns expressed within these columns.
The same mistake is taking place again. It is one thing for the party to rent the National Stadium, a public facility, for a fund-raising event. It is quite another thing for the PPP to host its annual Old Year’s Night Dance at the Castellani House, a State facility. This should not be happening and the leaders of the PPP need to put a brake on this development.
For years, the traditional Old Year’s Night party was always hosted at Freedom House. Why move from the headquarters of the party? It may be that there is a need for an improved ambience or for greater space, but could not somewhere other than a facility which is not freely rented to the public be found for hosting this traditional party?
It is not too late for the party to make the necessary change of venue, but I doubt whether it is going to, because the PPP has also traditionally been a stubborn party and does not give in readily to criticism. In fact, as the recent response to criticisms of the manner in which the opposition is being accommodated within the National Assembly has shown, whenever such criticisms emerge, the party retreats into a defensive mode.
For this reason, one hopes that the music played on Old Year’s Night at the PPP’s Annual Ball will be somber and soothing so that it can place the leadership in a contemplative mood so that rather than jumping up and wineing down, there will a serious soul – searching about the future of the party.
And of course, there is that million-dollar question to be answered: Will the President attend his party’s Old Year’s Night Party?

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