LEADER of the Opposition, David Granger disclosed last Friday at A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) weekly press conference that despite claims by APNU Member of Parliament Vanessa Kissoon that he has no power to suspend her, he has done this while acting according to the PNCR constitution.Granger, who was asked to respond to Kissoon’s statement that he has “no power” to suspend her, replied with “I did”, explaining that he has already suspended her and his action is justified since he had acted within the PNCR constitution.

“God is in charge and I fear not” -Vanessa Kissoon

He said “I have operated always with advice in accordance with the constitution of the People’s National Congress (Reform)… any decision has to be ratified by the Central Executive Committee. I have never behaved outside of the constitution.”

APNU MP Vanessa Kissoon

Kissoon however is maintaining that the Party’s Constitution, Article 27 INTERPRETATION CLAUSE ‘Under this Constitution’ (5) reads: “A power to appoint implies a power to suspend, dismiss or revoke.” As such she stressed that “I am a member of the PNCR and not an employee,” noting that the Leader of the Party did not appoint her and as such he has no power to suspend her.

In a statement issued by Kissoon recently, she also explained that Granger emailed her on 24th June saying that he had suspended her membership from the Party. However, this letter suspending her membership preceded the Central Executive Committee meeting held on 25th June, 2014. She said also that to date she had not received any correspondence from the Central Executive Committee.

When questioned whether Kissoon will be recalled as a Member of Parliament because of her opposition to the ruling of the party, Granger contended that he has not made such a consideration and does not believe the issue warrants such an extreme measure. He said “there is no hint, there is no suggestion, there is no threat that her status as a Member of Parliament would be in jeopardy.”

The Region 10 party’s representative is claiming that on June 20th, she was assaulted at Congress Place, the PNCR Headquarters, by the General Secretary Oscar Clarke who requested keys to the party’s Region 10 office. Kissoon, however, maintained that she was not in possession of the keys and had explained this to Clarke several times.

The Region 10 representative also disclosed that she was never asked by Granger what transpired on 20th June. “My 28th June response to Mr. Granger’s letter expressed concerns about the violation of the party constitution and my rights under the said constitution in addressing the matter,” she said.

IN an effort to cushion the impact of the public ridicule for the nefarious, unilateral and unprincipled decision of suspending Member of Parliament Ms. Vanessa Kissoon, the PNC now has two public positions on this fiasco.

First, it was the Leader acting on ‘credible evidence’ as it related to the exchange between the General Secretary and Ms. Kissoon, thus the use of a so-called constitutional provision and suspended her: When it became clear that his decision cannot stand the test of public scrutiny and flies in the face of natural justice, the party, in a press release, attempted to fuse a series of unrelated events to justify the leader’s action.

Even in this failed attempt at Public relations, not one iota of evidence was presented indicating that Ms. Kissoon was and is in possession of the keys to the office.

What was clear in the party’s latest bid to save face was that, despite the resistance from members in the region to the imposition of a coordinator, without meaningful consultation, they are still members of the party central leadership, with the proclivity to circumvent the will of the members, internal party democracy and stability of a critical constituency of the party in their quest for vindictive pursuits.

The office which is the subject of this controversy and the party infrastructure under its remit, was dysfunctional for years; and during this period there was no attempt to wrestle positions from the previous leaders. Now, while a concerted effort is in place to mobilise the party, re-enforce its institutional capacity and prepare it for any ensuing political action by a group of young proactive leaders, efforts are in motion to dislodge this.

Therefore, the only inference that can be drawn from this continuous saga is that Ms. Kissoon finds herself among a group of young leaders who are rising in popularity and their political work and adumbrations are exposing the incompetence of their colleagues at the highest levels, therefore every effort must be made to curtail them. However, unlike the other members of this rising star grouping, Ms. Kissoon is most vulnerable, not only because she is a woman, but because her political nemesis have at their disposal the recall legislation as a tool to intimidate her and is building a case to use it.

However respected and successful leaders are – not those who find and use unorthodox methods to out-manoeuvre their opponents, but those who stand for, believe in and subscribe to the fundamental principles, Ms Kissoon’s fight is one of principle; therefore surrendering is not an option, thus in time she will be exonerated, because she has age, her constituency, and most of all, the Lord on her side.