The death of the PNC

SINCE the People’s National Congress (PNC) was given birth by the late Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, that political party has been, and remained from the inception a vibrant force in local social and political dynamics, and the leadership (with initially Burnham at the helm, then Hoyte) has remained committed and steadfast on the core values of the Party.

Enter Corbin, and with him the slow disintegration of the second strongest political force in Guyana. Leadership challenges began: Membership was being lost at an alarming rate; but worse was the infighting, as more and more of the executive members began feeling alienated to a political party they had given absolute loyalty, from their youth.
So, Burnham loyalists became determined to return the PNC to its glory days by removing Corbin, who they solely blamed for the disintegration of the PNC, and replace him with someone in whom they placed their faith to restore the strength of their party.
But, bit by bit, the core leadership was eliminated out of the equation, with challengers to leadership claiming rigging in the internal electoral processes. Corbin remained as Supreme Leader, while the swathe of vengeance scythed away aspiring leaders like Vincent Alexander, Aubrey Norton, Raphael Trotman, Faith Harding et al.
Those who supported opposing candidates were vengefully weeded out of the executive, and, gradually, the strength and vibrancy of the PNC became diluted, because those who remained became apathetic and directionless. That is, until Corbin realized that if he stayed, he would become leader of a defunct political party.
His future personal wellbeing was secure, in any case, because the PPP/C Government provides the leader of the opposition with wages, benefits, and a retirement package almost in line with that of the President. So Corbin would never want for any luxury imaginable. These were the factors that propelled his search for a successor; but instead of choosing someone who had the absolute loyalty of party members, he went out of the box and chose someone who was an absolute political novice, which further alienated hardcore PNCites.
David Granger’s emergence as a power within PNC leadership heralded many changes; but the most shocking of all was the restructuring of the Burnham-founded PNC, by eliminating executive members who had served the party with loyalty and distinction from their youth, and injecting non-affiliates in a new avatar he renamed A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), which key members saw as a betrayal, because none of the new affiliate parties, heads of which automatically became executive leaders of the new political conglomeration, had any membership to speak of, and all had been almost defunct. So it was an anomalous partnership.
As a consequence, disillusioned PNC membership melted away in droves; thus it was when former PNC leadership contender, Raphael Trotman co-founded the Alliance For Change (AFC), many former PNC members voted solidly for that fledgling political party.
The angst of party loyalists, who see newcomers who had never contributed anything to their party, like Jaipaul Sharma, Rupert Roopnarine and others enjoying the power, prominence and benefits that come with their appointment as parliamentarians, sidelining major players like Faith Harding, Aubrey Norton, Volda Lawrence, Mervyn Williams, et al, has added to the internal corrosion of the second oldest, once powerful political party in Guyana.
The ineffective leadership (which only grandstands with sanctimonious speeches, cutting successive budgets and stymieing the development of their own support bases) and now their unyielding position of non-support of the anti-money laundering and terrorism Bill (with all the implications for Guyana and all Guyanese, that has made the APNU a mocking stock in Guyana and the world) is another factor that seems to spell doom for the once powerful brainchild of Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, who, despite everything, was one of the most brilliant leaders Guyana has ever produced.
Granger has, without doubt, presided over the demise of the People’s National Congress; and its non-support of the AML/FT Bill is its death knell.

extracted from the guyanachronicle