PNC/R says Congress was “free, fair and transparent”

Jul 31, 2014 News

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…disruption was “well organized, well financed”

Addressing ongoing criticisms over the conduct of the People’s National Congress Reform’s (PNC/R) 18th Biennial Delegates Congress over the weekend, the Party yesterday maintained that the election process was done in a “free, fair and transparent” manner.
It however blamed some of its members; specifically Region 10 Chairman Sharma Solomon as well as Aubrey Norton for disruptions that occurred during the proceedings.

The two men who were contesting for the leadership of the (PNC/R) dropped out of the race on Sunday, alleging a flawed voting system. A gunshot was fired at the event and there were reports of unruly behavior.
At a media briefing, the Party said that “the Regional Democratic Council Chairman of Region Ten (Sharma Solomon) and some of his support group, were intent on causing the maximum disruption to the 18th Biennial Delegates Congress.” It was noted that evidence showed that a handful of party members had convinced a segment of the Region 10 community to travel to Georgetown to disrupt the opening ceremony.
Reading from a statement, Party executive Volda Lawrence noted that “This was followed by several calculated and well-planned acts of disorder. This group was well-organised, well-financed and dressed in a ‘uniformed’ manner, abused the spirit of our party and the sanctity of our Congress.” Some persons who had traveled to the city over the weekend to Congress Place, were neither delegates, nor observers, it was stated.
It was explained that prior to the election, two Congress circulars in relation to membership renewals, were sent out stating that those who satisfied the requirements of being financial members would be eligible to be nominated as Delegates to represent their groups.
The circular advised of the constitutional requirements for the determination of eligibility of party members for accreditation as Delegates or Observers and the guidelines for determining the number of Delegates which a Group was entitled to have accredited.
However, as it relates to the accreditation of Delegates and Observers for Region Ten, the Region 10 Chairman had submitted his list. This list contained persons who were both qualified and unqualified to be Delegates and Observers. In some cases, persons had only qualified to be Observers rather than Delegates. The party claims that in several subsequent pieces of correspondence, Solomon was notified about changes that had to be made, but he continuously re-submitted lists with the same issues that had to be addressed.
Lawrence said that in one of the lists submitted by Solomon, it was noted that it “still contained some of the same deficiencies that he was previously notified of and needed to be corrected. In addition, Mr. Sharma Solomon included persons who he claimed to be automatic Delegates but who were not qualified to be automatic Delegates.”
At a meeting of the Accreditation Committee, the party said “Solomon was again informed of the corrections that needed to be made to the lists. No further information was received from Mr. Solomon. It should, however, be noted from a perusal of the table attached, that Region 10 was entitled to 119 Delegates out of a total of 794 nationally.”
The Party said that every effort is being made to facilitate a resolution to concerns expressed by both Mr. Solomon and Mr. Norton. “Reports that the party Secretariat was deliberately working to disenfranchise Delegates from Region 10 were all false. The Party’s General Secretary continued to work with the representatives of Region Ten to ensure that every query raised was answered.” They stated that an emergency meeting was also held to facilitate Norton and Solomon, but after solutions were agreed upon, Solomon refused to collect his Delegate’s card from the registration desk.
The Party claimed that, “It was becoming increasingly clear that Mr. Norton and Mr. Solomon had no interest in seeking a resolution to the issues they had raised. Instead, they were obviously intent on embarrassing the PNC/R.”
Party Leader David Granger had over the weekend, accused the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) of having a hand in what transpired at Congress Place. The Party stated yesterday that while there is no solid evidence to support this, investigations are ongoing.
General Secretary Oscar Clarke, when asked, said that the PNC/R is very concerned with the public’s perception following Sunday’s ruckus. He stated that the Party is bent on clarifying the matter so that there would be no doubt that what took place was well planned to make the Party look bad.

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