The PNCR and its Congress

Oct 06, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – Now that the PNCR has found the resources to dispatch a delegation to Washington for a conference and a meeting with the Black Congressional Caucus, it is time for it to find the resources to hosts its Congress. The lack of finances can no longer be used as an excuse since monies were found to send a large team to the United States.

There have been calls for the holding of the Congress of the party by the end of this year. Counter suggestions have been made that the Congress can be help next year, probably in April or in August next year. Congress does require a fair deal of logistical planning and a great deal of finances. It does cost a pretty penny to bring delegates to the Congress, some of whom have to be flown in from the deep reaches of the interior. Each party group is entitled to one delegate per every 10 financial members. This means that if the party has about 16,000 financial members, then 1,600 would be entitled to be delegates to the Congress.

Congress is the highest decision-making forum of the party. According to the party’s Constitution, the supreme authority of the Party shall be the Biennial Delegates Congress. It is required to be held every two years at such time and place as is decided by the General Council or the Central Executive Committee may decide.  As such even if the General Council has not met, the decision to hold the Congress can be made by the Central Executive Committee. The General Council is supposed to meet every quarter. But reports suggest that this has not been happening. Since the General Council manages the party between Congresses, the failure of the General Council to meet as required by the party’s Constitution has raised concerns.

Congress not only sets the tone for the party’s activities and policies but it is vested with the right to order a review of any decision taken by any other forum, organ or committee of the Party. It is from Congress that the leadership secures their mandate. But what most persons are interested in is the holding of the elections for officers of the party which usually takes place at Congress. It is the Congress which elects the Party Leader, Chairman, Vice Chairman and fifteen (15) other members, who shall become the elected members of the Central Executive Committee.

Whoever is elected as Leader in the next Congress is virtually assured of leading the party into the 2025 elections because it is not likely that another Congress will be held in time for the 2025 elections. This is one of the main reasons why there is such heightened interest in the Congress because the person that is elected as Leader will virtually be its Presidential candidate. Even though that can change it is not likely to do so.

The incumbent leader, Aubrey Norton, is likely to be challenged for the position of leadership at the forthcoming Congress. Ambitions are running high within the party at the moment and this is made worse because of the divisions within the party. Other positions are likely up for grabs. There have been complaints about the manner in which the party has been administered. The next Congress of the party is likely to be the first fully in-person Congress since the pandemic. The last Congress had a low delegate voter turnout precisely because of concerns over the pandemic and the fallout over the mutiny which pushed the former leader into retirement.

The fallout from the last elections has hit the party’s finances badly. Some major financiers have reportedly pulled away from the party. The situation reached a head during the run-up to the local government elections. The party ran a low-keyed, low-budget campaign and did not context in a number of constituencies, handing the PPPC a landslide. Nonetheless, the party was still able to impressively hold on to its main support bases in the towns of New Amsterdam, Linden and Georgetown, even though the PPP/C made some inroads.

A great many promises were made in the campaigning for the last Congress. One candidate promised to put the assets of the party to work. This was no doubt in recognition of the need for the party to be able to have its own economic arm that could generate funds for the party. Other plans touted were the need to develop an intelligence arm and more training. But these things require resources. But judging from recent developments, the party’s coffers are likely to be in a healthier state and this should hasten the holding of the statutory meetings of the General Council and the holding of Congress next year.

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

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• Central Executive Committee, Congress, delegates, General Council, PNCR

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