Leadership was never the problem for the PNCR
October 31, 2011 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
Source - Kaieteur News
Patrick Manning, the four-time elected Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago deserved to have retired from politics with a better send off.
He has been a stalwart for the Peoples National Movement and has been a Caribbean statesman of distinction. But party politics in the Caribbean has been such an ugly affair that this man’s contributions to his party and his nation is underappreciated and when his party lost the last elections in his country to the Peoples Partnership he was booed and virtually chased out of the party‘s headquarters.
Those who did this were traumatized from the loss of the elections but failed to accept that the reason why the elections had to be called earlier than usual in the first place was because Manning risked having his own party members vote with the opposition in a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly. There were persons within the PNM who were prepared to see the back of Manning and rather than risk this, which would have surely been more costly politically, he called early elections and the PNM was booted out of the government.
Manning related that he left a national executive meeting before it had ended so as to avoid a situation of being asked to leave and when he went downstairs he was greeted with a hostile reception by the rank and file of the party.
His experience is not dissimilar to what happened after the 2001 elections which the PNCR comprehensively lost in Guyana. A member of the PNCR, who had served as that party’s nominee, not representative, on the Guyana Elections Commission, was leaving Congress Place when he was physically assaulted. The party’s supporters were venting their frustration on him. Later that frustration boiled over into the street outside of Congress Place and this led to damage to property.
In 2006 there was no such incident and great maturity was shown. In that respect, 2006 was an improvement on 2001 and whatever frustration was felt did not lead to a disruption in the lives of the citizens or to the country.
But the loss of elections always leads to political causalities. Patrick Manning, such an outstanding Caribbean statesman, was booed and chased out of his party’s headquarters.
He was left on the political sidelines instead of being hailed alongside Eric Williams and ANR Robinson, as great leaders that emerged from within the PNM. It is sad to know that persons who give their entire adult lives towards the causes of their parties and their people are treated this way after an election loss. It reflects a woeful lack of appreciation on the part of the supporters of political parties.
If the PNC had turned on Mr. Burnham after his election losses to the PPP in the late fifties and early sixties, the history of the PNC would have been different. But Burnham on each occasion asked them to watch with him one more night.
Hoyte lost the 1992, 1997 and 2001 elections to the PPP and in both 1997 and 2001, there were calls within his party for him to demit the leadership but these were never threatening enough for him to call it quits.
His successor Robert Corbin did not have the fortune of Hoyte. After he had lost the only election that he led the PNCR into, there were immediate calls for him to step down and his leadership has been questioned since then but like the true political survivor that he is he has remained at the helm of his political party.
Come this year’s election, Mr. Corbin is not his party’s presidential candidate and the outcome of the elections will prove that leadership was never the issue when it came to the fortunes of the PNCR.
This year’s election will vindicate Mr. Corbin because if APNU loses, then it will show that it is not Mr. Corbin that is the problem and if they win, he will take the credit for remaining at the helm.
October 31, 2011 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
Source - Kaieteur News
Patrick Manning, the four-time elected Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago deserved to have retired from politics with a better send off.
He has been a stalwart for the Peoples National Movement and has been a Caribbean statesman of distinction. But party politics in the Caribbean has been such an ugly affair that this man’s contributions to his party and his nation is underappreciated and when his party lost the last elections in his country to the Peoples Partnership he was booed and virtually chased out of the party‘s headquarters.
Those who did this were traumatized from the loss of the elections but failed to accept that the reason why the elections had to be called earlier than usual in the first place was because Manning risked having his own party members vote with the opposition in a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly. There were persons within the PNM who were prepared to see the back of Manning and rather than risk this, which would have surely been more costly politically, he called early elections and the PNM was booted out of the government.
Manning related that he left a national executive meeting before it had ended so as to avoid a situation of being asked to leave and when he went downstairs he was greeted with a hostile reception by the rank and file of the party.
His experience is not dissimilar to what happened after the 2001 elections which the PNCR comprehensively lost in Guyana. A member of the PNCR, who had served as that party’s nominee, not representative, on the Guyana Elections Commission, was leaving Congress Place when he was physically assaulted. The party’s supporters were venting their frustration on him. Later that frustration boiled over into the street outside of Congress Place and this led to damage to property.
In 2006 there was no such incident and great maturity was shown. In that respect, 2006 was an improvement on 2001 and whatever frustration was felt did not lead to a disruption in the lives of the citizens or to the country.
But the loss of elections always leads to political causalities. Patrick Manning, such an outstanding Caribbean statesman, was booed and chased out of his party’s headquarters.
He was left on the political sidelines instead of being hailed alongside Eric Williams and ANR Robinson, as great leaders that emerged from within the PNM. It is sad to know that persons who give their entire adult lives towards the causes of their parties and their people are treated this way after an election loss. It reflects a woeful lack of appreciation on the part of the supporters of political parties.
If the PNC had turned on Mr. Burnham after his election losses to the PPP in the late fifties and early sixties, the history of the PNC would have been different. But Burnham on each occasion asked them to watch with him one more night.
Hoyte lost the 1992, 1997 and 2001 elections to the PPP and in both 1997 and 2001, there were calls within his party for him to demit the leadership but these were never threatening enough for him to call it quits.
His successor Robert Corbin did not have the fortune of Hoyte. After he had lost the only election that he led the PNCR into, there were immediate calls for him to step down and his leadership has been questioned since then but like the true political survivor that he is he has remained at the helm of his political party.
Come this year’s election, Mr. Corbin is not his party’s presidential candidate and the outcome of the elections will prove that leadership was never the issue when it came to the fortunes of the PNCR.
This year’s election will vindicate Mr. Corbin because if APNU loses, then it will show that it is not Mr. Corbin that is the problem and if they win, he will take the credit for remaining at the helm.
