Something Aubrey Norton told me at the Thomas Street lime

May 22, 2021 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I have always regarded Aubrey Norton as a PNC person who has a sound analytical mind. I have had countless political conversations with Aubrey and he has the competence to analyse the Guyanese society.

He has announced that he will be contesting the position of leader of the PNC. In doing so, he said he hopes to revive the APNU+AFC covenant. Despite his sound analytical mind, Aubrey shows signs of intellectual decline with that statement. I would like to see him explain the value of the AFC to the PNC in the 2025 poll.

I don’t know if Aubrey knows but even the leadership of the AFC may quit. I quoted one of its executives, Amar Chinkan, as telling me that he tried to persuade three top AFC leaders – Cathy Hughes, David Patterson and Raphael Trotman – to return to Parliament last September because they had told the AFC leadership they were not interested. See my column, of Wednesday, April 21, 2021, “More potent truths in recent times.”

There are stories going around that at the scheduled congress of the AFC next month, many of the leaders at the top of the pyramid will decline leadership position with several of them giving up their parliamentary seats in 2022. In such a situation, what value the AFC will bring to a PNC under Norton as leader?

More importantly, Norton should answer the question that even with the big wigs of the AFC at the moment, what capital the PNC gets from their presence in the coalition? Norton in the interview spoke of being around politics since he was 15 (if true, he pip me by one year). Then he should know how African Guyanese felt about some high-ranking PNC comrades defecting to the PPP.

Even Indians from the PPP could have gone into African villages and speak to them but not those former Africans from the PNC’s leadership they felt were betrayers. It was the identical situation with the PPP. Once a PPP Indian went over to the PNC, hatred met him in Indian villages. A Black leader from the PNC would have received a better welcome than the former PPP comrades who were perceived as betrayers.

Against this background, Norton must answer what value, even if symbolic, AFC will bring to his party if he wins at the next PNC congress. Moses Nagamootoo is all but done with politics. Indian people detest Ramjattan. Which Indian votes is AFC bringing to the APNU+AFC in 2025?

Which Black politician in the AFC will help the electoral ambition of the PNC? Is Aubrey saying that he needs Cathy Hughes, David Patterson and Raphael Trotman to help his leadership in the PNC? If yes, then is he conceding that these three names will split African votes in 2025 so he, as leader of the PNC needs them?

If Norton takes this position publicly, then he is committing political suicide. He will lose votes at the congress because over 99 percent of the delegates hate the AFC. Secondly, his main rival, Volda Lawrence, is not a big fan of the AFC. Before I move on to the headline of this column, I repeat – Norton should tell the Guyanese public what is the value of the AFC to the PNC under him as leader.

With reference to the caption of this article, one night, Aubrey and I were discussing the defeat of Vincent Alexander for the leader of the PNC by Robert Corbin at the traditional “watering hole” on Thomas Street, North Cummingsburg, opposite the Georgetown Hospital.

He told me the key to any election victory at the party’s congress is the credential committee and the credential committee at that congress was controlled by Alexander’s rivals. Norton was deadly accurate. Do you know that over a long period of time, a certain man (no longer in the PPP leadership) was head of the credential committee at PPP congresses and guess what? He always came in third place after Cheddi and Janet Jagan.

Who controls the credential committee controls the selection of the delegates. Norton is up against the identical situation that caused Alexander to lose. David Granger and Joe Harmon are not going to allow Norton to lead the PNC. But more importantly, an old enemy of Norton is waiting to go for Norton’s jugular.

His name is Robert Corbin. Corbin is going to campaign against Norton. I would like to think that whoever enters the race, Corbin would offer logistical support to them just to weaken Norton’s chances. At the congress, it will be Norton versus Corbin. Any bets?

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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Something Aubrey Norton told me at the Thomas Street lime

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