‘Granger, the downfall of PNCR’ – says Vanessa Kissoon
Nov 15, 2021 -- Source -- https://www.kaieteurnewsonline...ays-vanessa-kissoon/
Kaieteur News- Former Member of Parliament, Vanessa Kissoon, is ready to return to the ‘party of her heart’, after the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), lifted a seven-year suspension that was imposed by the party’s incumbent leader, Brigadier (ret’d) David Granger.
In a statement Kissoon said her “unjust suspension” should have never happened in the first place. “The decision was taken without respecting my right to due process as a card-bearing, financial member of the Party. Seven years later, I wish to say that I have never left the party and deep in my heart I know the party of Cde. Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham has never left me.”
Kisson further stated: “I have always held sacred the party’s founding principles and commitment to society. In spite of the unjust suspension, during the 2015 and 2020 General and Regional Elections I worked my hardest to help deliver Region Ten to the PNCR.”
Kissoon who sat as a Member of Parliament for Region 10 for two terms, was suspended from the PNCR in 2014. this was after an altercation between Kissoon and former General Secretary Oscar Clarke, over control of the keys to the PNCR’s office in Linden. It was then suggested that Mr. Granger allegedly used that incident to suspend her but wanted to do so since 2012 when Kissoon was accused of organising a protest against him in Linden. The protest had occurred at the Mackenzie High School.
In her statement, Kissoon said that it is because of the attitude portrayed by the party’s leader that has left the party in the current weak state it is in today. “I am not ashamed to say I am a grassroots politician because I connect to the people and the people connect to me.
The democratic principles enshrined in the constitution of the Party allow me to express my opinions on matters that cause me concern, and as such I say with conviction, it is the abandonment of the grassroots, friends, and supporters, abandonment of years of network established by the PNCR from Cdes. Burnham to Desmond Hoyte to Robert Corbin, that have us where we are today, in shambles and divided by one who has no understanding of our political undertaking, no connection, no appreciation, no recognition, no compassion for the base of the Party.”
She took the opportunity to set the record straight regarding some misperceptions in the public’s domain. “Former General Secretary, Mr. Oscar Clarke, never slapped me.
I was never “recalled” from the National Assembly. I served my full term which came to an end at the prorogation of Parliament for the 2015 General and Regional Elections.
Three, Cde. Aubrey Norton and I have not spoken to each other since about 2014/2015.”
Miss Kissoon who continued her role as a public figure during her suspension, most recently spearheaded several protest actions in Linden against the mandatory vaccination policy; one of which led to the blocking of the Mackenzie/Wismar Bridge.
The motion to lift her suspension, was tabled by Retired Rear Admiral Gary Best. It was reportedly seconded by Aubrey Norton who is vying for the position of leader of the party.