Political Landscape in Spice Country
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- Parent Category: Dec 2011
- Category: Week ending Dec 17th, 2011
- Published on Monday, 19 December 2011 17:13
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Part IV
By Political Insight
The current Chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) - Mr. Kenrick Fullerton who up to recently was Policy Advisor in the Ministry of Youth Empowerment and Sports - had managed through a measure of anxiety to find himself in questionable circumstances both in his private life and our public affairs.
Before elaborating, I would like you to understand and appreciate that I am not interested in besmirching Mr. Fullerton’s character.
Anyone offering himself/herself to public life must be prepared for public scrutiny.
Mr. Fullerton in his private life has been an insurance broker who by virtue of his position served the interest of established insurance companies with whom he may have struck agreements.
There is one such reputable company in St. George’s in which his dealings are alleged to have gone west. This caused a serious problem for him and when the NDC was in opposition, then opposition leader and political leader of the NDC (current Prime Minister) - Tillman Thomas - had the occasion to recall Mr. Fullerton through serious disciplinary action which saw him (Mr. Fullerton) replaced as a candidate notwithstanding his success at the 2003 general election.
When the allegations surrounding Mr. Fullerton’s insurance issues hit the streets, the NDC started to resemble the administration they were seeking to replace and so the usual knee-jerk reaction of the squeaky clean party leader was to effectively sideline him.
One would have thought that Mr. Fullerton would have learnt his lesson from that experience and from henceforth put his best foot forward and not to ever be in the limelight again in a negative way. But that is not to be, as people like Mr. Fullerton seem doomed to mistake our forgiving nature as a people for stupidity.
He is up to his old tricks again as he realises the steep division in the party as orchestrated by the new faction leader and so appears to be seeking to re-establish himself within the fold of the party as a candidate, by first securing on the initiative of the new faction leader the position of Chairman of the party.
He is the same one who tries to come across in certain quarters as having serious issues with the division but when it comes to his own survival in politics, he is taking any port for a storm.
This is so sad! Granted - Mr. Fullerton may be a hard working person which cannot be contested, but he is someone the party should relegate to the engine room of the campaign and not out front for fear that there appears to be no difference between the NDC and the NNP in terms of characterlessness.
What a scandal to have him as Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). After all, this is a party that boasts of its track record in integrity, accountability and good governance - yet for all they are sporting this level of individual in such a leading position of the party - whose reputation precedes and beset him!
The efforts of the faction leader to scuttle the party from the Political Leader and his deputy is paying high dividends for him among his narrow political support within the NDC circles, while the party’s image and goodwill are sure to come into question.
The operatives of the faction leader are the twice-defeated hopeless candidate for Carriacou & Petit Martinique, the now hopeless-at-winning a second time in the other seat in St. Patrick, the fat-cat Senator who thinks he knows it all and rubs people the wrong way, the ineffective female from the south who publicly displays her disdain for her political leader and Prime Minister, and the out-of-touch-with-reality St. Andrew candidate who worships the new faction leader thus parrying himself to reappear as the candidate for the area in spite of his total slip in popularity in the constituency.
These people are in the pockets of the faction leader and have been doing the party and government more harm than good - so much so even devout party “faithfuls” are disillusioned!
Don’t talk about the swing votes who went out of their way to oust Mitchell and his NNP last time around. If these people lose faith and remain neutral this time around then the NDC should know the result of the polls.
Many people would like to see the NDC return to office but totally without the faction leader and his disciples.
Among the sane members of the population, the current Minister of Finance is the only worthy candidate to succeed Tillman Thomas as Prime Minister when the time comes.
None of the other members of the party and Cabinet will suffice. It is unfortunate that Mr. Burke is receiving so much negativity from within his own party in addition to be the chief focus of the opposition. Is there some kind of an alliance between the Faction Leader and NNP to attack Nazim Burke?
How come the NNP Leader does not attack the Faction Leader and vice-versa? Who in the NDC leaks party and Cabinet information to the NNP and their operatives? It cannot be PM Tillman Thomas or Nazim Burke.
When the election bell rings, Nazim Burke is sure to win his seat - but those who are putting up so much opposition and resistance to him -are they sure to win theirs?
The Minister of Finance is so qualified and at the same time so professional and methodic in his approach to life and work that I am not surprised he is the envy of the party among his empty colleagues of the destabilizing faction let alone the opposition who had thirteen years and spent every moment on self-serving motives.
So with all of that said - the current Chairman of the NDC would do well to section himself, if he is really serious about the NDC getting a chance at re-election in October 2013 for the latest. I am not advocating a return of his ineffective predecessor either.
It would appear that the NDC’s best chance is to get rid of the dividers before it is too late.
In Part 5, I will concentrate on Prime Minister Tillman Thomas and Peter David after which I will take the series into a different phase altogether.
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