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Public challenge to Norton is healthy for democracy 

Apr 15, 2024 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – It is my opinion that the increasingly public challenges to the current leader of the PNC/R, and the Opposition, is not disloyal, divisive, destructive, dysfunctional or fratricidal but is rather symptomatic of a welcome, necessary, important and urgent public discussion and a healthy democracy. It suggests an appreciation of the current and future challenges facing the party and nation and an honest and open search for what is believed necessary to address and overcome them. In this process, much attention has been, and will continue to be, focused on the qualities and accomplishments of the current and prospective leaders and their perceived and demonstrated ability to inspire, unite, guide and empower their followers.

Many learned and successful men, and women, have tried to explain that popularity, fine speeches and yesterday’s achievements are not valid and lasting qualifications for leadership. The greatest basketball player ever, Michael Jordan, believed that you have to “earn your leadership every day”. Andrew Carnegie, billionaire philanthropist, declared “that no man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it.” Bill Gates agrees, saying, that in this time, “leaders will be those who empower others”. Perhaps, more profound is Ken Blanchard’s view that “the greatest leaders mobilize others by coalescing people around a shared vision” which is shared by John K.  Galbraith, who said that “all the great leaders have one characteristic in common; it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This and not much else is the essence of leadership.”

The political legacy of former leaders of the PNC/R, who were also Presidents of Guyana (Burnham, Hoyte and Granger), exemplifies these leadership qualities. They are all well regarded for their vision and signature economic policies which common foundation was the advancement and empowerment of all Guyanese. From Forbes Burnham’s vision of making the small man a real man through universal access to education and other social services, to land, the promotion of the Feed, House and Clothe programme; through Desmond Hoyte’s Economic Recovery Programme and to David Granger’s Green State Development Strategy: Vision 2040, which aspirations and achievements as a whole, stand in stark and painful contrast to the opposing governance structures, policies and priorities which exacerbate socio-economic inequalities and insecurities, and social and ethnic divisions. The challenge for the PNC/R leader in this time, whoever it may be, is to mobilize all its members and supporters to reclaim their legacy and continue their great work to the benefit of all Guyanese.

Sincerely,

Oscar Dolphin

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