It is true that PNC political bull dog Aubrey Norton has not been prominent, nay, missing, from the APNU platform. One wondered about his presence and role.
I noticed him, for the first time, after the elections, when media reports put him as having surfaced in front of the Providence Police Station to the aid of some stranded Lindeners.
As it turns out he played a prominent role in delivering Linden and the wider Region 10 to APNU in a manner that still has the PPP and the AFC licking their open wounds.
And now he is not in Parliament.
But Africo Selman is. So too are a host of others who are unknown to the wider Guyanese public. Previously I had never heard of any of Richard Allen, John Adams, Jaipaul Sharma, Jennifer Wade, Dawn Hastings, Rennis Morian or Annette Ferguson.
I know of Selman only because I had seen video footage on NCN of a very poor presentation she made in the National Assembly and had cause to enquire who she was only to be told that she is so and so’s “lil girlfriend”.
I know of Joan Beveghems only because I saw a news report that she was shot with a rubber pellet during the protests. I was shocked to learn that she was a Member of Parliament. I had never heard or seen her name before, neither did she make any impression with the electorate during whatever time she served. I trust that her qualifications for being an MP go beyond being shot in the leg by a rubber pellet.
I know of Vanessa Kissoon through personal relations. James Bond and I know each other since our time at the University of Guyana and he, perhaps more than anyone else has earned, through strategic thinking and action, his place as an APNU Member of Parliament.
I know of Christopher Jones.
Volda Lawrence, Basil Williams, Sydney Allicock, Amna Ally, Ronald Bulkan, Dr. George Norton, Joseph Harmon, Desmond Trotman, Keith Scott and Winston Felix are all known to the mess.
Presidential and Prime Ministerial candidates David Granger and Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine and Carl Greenidge round off the list.
I struggle to think of a PNC MP who would have made more robust contributions of quality and substance ahead of Robert Corbin, Winston Murray and Aubrey Norton.
Corbin is not returning to Parliament and Murray is dead. How could Norton be off the list?
This development speaks a thousand words to me.
Most worryingly it signals that the PNC/APNU is still playing the politics of spite and vengeance. At a time when the nation is longing for a deliverance from this politics of old the PNC/APNU is digging in its heels.
By this act of what is nothing short of personal political persecution the PNC/APNU has ostracized legions of right thinking Guyanese who might have been leaning or wanting to lean in their direction.
It also tells me that the PNC/APNU list was not constructed entirely on the basis of merit. By meritorious placement Aubrey Norton, on any scorecard, must rank highly.
Further in what will be a brutal National Assembly where every contribution counts substantially how can seven political unknowns and somebody’s lil girlfriend leap frog Norton?
That is injustice of the most barefaced brand.
Norton is no one’s favourite politician. He is rough and gruff, has a penchant for acrimony, his checkered shirts and over-sized jackets make him look clumsy and he is ruthless. The members on the government side will be relieved to see him absent. He kept them honest by holding them accountable.
At a time when the opposition has the constitutional power to best utilize a dedicated and fearless Parliamentary powerhouse as Norton, PNC/APNU allows him to be victimized.
APNU campaigned on inclusive governance but now when they are put to a minor but instructive litmus test they cannot include one of their own who is deserving but with whom they have some operational differences. How can the people trust them to include, if they were to ever form the government, those with whom they are philosphically separated by thousands of miles?
Moreover the PNC/APNU does not understand, it would seem, that outside of its support base people do not trust them. APNU did make inroads on building the levels of trust. They began the work in chipping away at the mistrust people harbour and win the quiet confidence of the wider society. There have been some mis-steps and setbacks.
Now in one fell swoop, the heavy hand of Corbin in causing this Norton Scandal has railroaded the process. Who will argue against the PPP bottomhouse campaign which will appeal to the people with “look yuh see, dem is de same ting like we, so why yuh gon change we fuh put dem?”?
Finally, what the Norton Scandal illustrates is that Granger, now that the campaign is done and dusted, has his limitations in reach and influence. He is not truly the man in charge. He held this illusion up until November 28th. Thereafter we have seen slippage and a truer picture of who is really in charge.
So on the one hand we have a President who is being directed and puppeted by the Puppeteer-in-Chief. And on the other side the old Palm Tree boss is running the show with a tight fist. And so the nation, despite the reluctance of the people who have delivered the most historic elections results ever, drifts back to square one.
