Presidential Candidate for the APNU and Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Aubrey Norton, today, said former Opposition Member of Parliament, Jermaine Figueira, who recently resigned from the party was “no political heavy weight,” as he downplayed his exit from the party.
“In my opinion, Figueira was the occupier of a seat, not a heavyweight,” Norton told reporters during a press conference.
Figueira served as the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) at the level of the National Assembly. At the party level, he was an Executive Member.
But Norton pointed out that although Figueira was an Executive Member of the party, he attended only one meeting since being elected to the post last year.
He said for the past three years, Figueira did little to no political work in Region 10, and it was evident to the party, that he had no interest in the PNCR.
Figueira’s resignation last Saturday followed the resignations of a number of other PNCR members including former Members of Parliament, Amanza Walton-Desir, Geeta Chandan-Edmond and Natasha Singh-Lewis, Region 4 Regional Chairman Daniel Seeram, and Region 4 Vice Chairman, Samuel Sandy.
Norton said the exits are unlikely to have any impact on the party itself.
“Heavy-weights are determined by our party, based on one, the work you do, and not solely the position you hold. I invite you to go through the performance of Figueira and see what in it suggests to you that he was a heavy-weight performing credibly for the APNU. In fact, Youth Sport and Culture only became a focus after I removed Figueira and placed Nima Flu-Bess and she is a heavyweight,” he said.
In the case of Former Member of Parliament, Amanza Walton-Desir Norton said unlike the others, Walton-Desir has potential, but he believes she lacks political experience currently.
Amid the wave of resignations, the PNCR Leader is adamant that the recent departures will not pull any significant support from the party as it heads into the September 1 Elections.
“So far, none of the persons who would have departed can carry with them, the support from the APNU. We continue to be strong and the Election results will show that we were on a party on the ground, and though you were not seeing the likes of Figueira on the ground, the hard-working party members were there, they continue to be there and we will do the work to achieve our objective,” Norton said.
In a letter justifying his resignation, Mr. Figueira accused the leadership of the PNCR of exhibiting a troubling tolerance for “rising ethnic antagonism.”
He said “what was once a platform for unifying vision now flirts perilously with dogma.”
He said the internal culture of the PNCR has deteriorated from principled deliberation to an insular climate defined by “sycophancy, vindictiveness, and the systematic sidelining of faithful contributors”, explaining that he has personally experienced arbitrary exclusion.
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