PNCR heads to Dec. 11 Congress, seven hats in the ring for leader of party

Georgetown: Seven nominations have been received by the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) for Leader of the party, according to PNCR’s Congress Place headquarters.

Those tipped for the top leadership position include outgoing party chairman Volda Lawrence and outgoing General Secretary, Aubrey Norton. Also in the running are former Region 10 (Barima-Waini) Chairman Sharma Solomon, and Parliamentary Opposition Leader, Joseph Harmon.

The party’s former Chairman, Basil Williams has also been nominated as well as party executives Carl Greenidge, and Dr. Richard Van-West Charles.

As has been expected, the current party leader, former President David Granger is notably missing, having not been nominated for any of the party officer positions.

Of the other positions remaining to be contested, the party has received 16 nominations for party Chairman; 30 nominations for the two Vice Chair (VC); and 18 nominations for Treasurer. There are said to have been over 700 nominations for the 15 Central Executive Committee (CEC) member spots.

The list of nominees released to the public would’ve been submitted by the various party groups at the PNCR nominations day on Friday last.

The party groups will cast their ballot at the 21st Biennial Congress slated for December 11.

“The Congress will be for delegates only, decentralised, and hybrid. It will be conducted over one day at Party Congress Houses and approved venues in the respective regions”, the PNCR said in the statement. Former President Granger is expected to make an appearance at some point.

Although these names have been made public, the nominees must still accept their nominations. Each nominee, the party said, will be written to about their interest in accepting the nomination.

“Failure to respond means that, should they otherwise qualify, their names would not automatically appear on the Ballot for the position/s for which they were nominated,” the statement noted.

Of those nominated for party leader Harmon, Norton, Lawrence, Van West Charles, and Solomon have all also received nods for the Chairman position.

Notable among the 30 nominees for Chairman are Annette Ferguson, Dawn Hastings, Ronald Bulkan, and Simona Broomes, who all served in ministerial roles under the previous David Granger-led government. Chief Whip for the parliamentary Opposition, Christopher Jones, has also been nominated for Chairman.

Broomes, just last Friday, gave a passionate critique of her party on social media where she decried the existing divisions and lamented the attitude of the party’s senior members while in government.

For the position of party vice-chairman, there have been 30 nominations while for the position of party treasurer, there have been 18 nominations.

The nominees for the vice-chairman position include: Elizabeth Niles-Williams, Volda Lawrence, Dawn Hastings-Williams, Annette Ferguson, Vinceroy Jordan, Gregory Fraser, Aubrey Norton, Darren Wade, Gary Best, Christopher Jones, Richard Van-West Charles, Vinceroy Jordan, Shurwayne Holder, Roysdale Forde, Ubraj Narine, Sharma Solomon, Robert Corbin, Simona Broomes, Natasha Singh-Lewis, Kirk Fraser, Randolph Critchlow, Amanza Walton-Desir, Corretta McDonald, Ronald Cox, Ronald Bulkan, Mervyn Williams, Ganesh Mahipaul, Bernita Primo, Samuel Sandy, and Jevaughn Stephens.

The nominees for the party treasurer include:  Ivelaw Henry, Clayton Newman, Elson Lowe, Vanessa Kissoon, Derrick Lawrence, Gary Best, Faaiz Mursaline, Ubraj Narine, Ronald Bulkan, Carol Smith-Joseph, Annette Ferguson, Amanza Walton-Desir, Roysdale Forde, Dr. Karen Cummings, Volda Lawrence, Ganesh Mahipaul, Daniel Seeram, and Deron John.

All nominees will be written to and requested to indicate their acceptance of these nominations. The PNC/R noted that failure to respond means that their names would not automatically appear on the Ballot for the position(s) for which they were nominated.

Congress will be held on December 11; it will be conducted in a decentralised, hybrid manner.