The main opposition New National Party (NNP) of veteran politician Keith Mitchell is currently wobbling from the fall-out with Peter David, who resigned on Monday in the wake of the controversial December 15 Convention in which Emmalin Pierre took over as the new Political Leader.
THE NEW TODAY is not surprised about reports of mass resignations from NNP’s Town of St George constituency branch of David by members of the party including some of the stalwarts with over 30 years of association with the political organisation.
This new development flies in the face of the assurances that were given by the new leader on Tuesday that all is well within the NNP after the convention and that the party is moving on and that it was the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) of Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell that will be the one most impacted by the Peter David resignation.
The new NNP leader made a number of questionable statements at her first major press conference including an influx of new persons since her ascendancy to the throne.
It is doubtful that she can provide one single name of note because that is simply not true – the NNP is hemorrhaging since the 2022 general election.
History will show that it is the first time in 40 years that the NNP has been hit by such mass resignations which is not painting a good image of things within the political organisation.
The last time this occurred was in 1987 when government ministers George Brizan, Dr. Francis Alexis and Tillman Thomas moved out of the party following policy disagreements with then leader H.A Blaize and decided to form the Congress party.
The only other time in which Grenada faced a mass exodus of political figures was in October 1983 when a host of Cabinet Ministers resigned from the People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG) as the OREL hardliners led by Bernard Coard staged a coup d’etat against Prime Minister Maurice Bishop who was put under house arrest at his official residence at Mt Wheldale. Those you resigned from the PRG were later executed in the bloody carnage at Fort Rupert.
There could be more resignations soon from the NNP by other stalwarts who were simply not happy with the manner in which the Convention was stage-managed by the Keith Mitchell-led National Executive with the sole intention to keep out David from the post of Political Leader.
The information swirling in the air is that in Emmalin Pierre’s own St Andrew South-east constituency, some of the party members are unhappy with the modus operandi of the NNP Leadership and the alleged rigging of the process to propel the new leader into the position.
Several party loyalists in that constituency and in others became aggrieved after being excluded as delegates at the December 15 Convention on the grounds that they were suspected of being loyalists of David and were planning to vote for him as the new party boss.
These NNP’ites have been regular delegates over the years at Conventions of the party but were sidelined due to fears that they will not support the Keith Mitchell-preferred candidate as the new Political Leader of the Organisation.
The main opposition party was already under a cloud of doubts and uncertainty as some of the elders like Dr. Lawrence Joseph, Dr. Bert Brathwaite and Dr. Anthony Bridgeman became at odds with Keith Mitchell on the manner in which the succession plan was being implemented.
The multiple negative happenings within the NNP in the past few weeks and months will make it extremely difficult for the former Prime Minister to stage any planned political comeback with the next election in mind.
There is a great level of distrust within the Grenadian society over his selection of Emmalin Pierre as Political Leader ahead of more capable and better qualified candidates academically like Peter David and Dwight Horsford, the former Solicitor General of Grenada and Attorney General of Anguilla.
The general feeling around the country is that Emmalin Pierre does not possess the qualities and qualification to be a worthy contender to be put before “THE MASSES” to become the leader of Grenada, Carriacou & Petite Martinique.
Many political pundits are suspicious that Keith Mitchell is attempting to do what the late Prime Minister of Barbados Owen Arthur did to Mia Mottley after the 2008 general election after he lost his job.
Arthur used his political henchmen in the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) to devour Mottley who had succeeded him after David Thompson and the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) won the election victory by painting her as unfit for the leadership and forced her to bow out in order for him to get back into the driving seat but he still lost at the polls.
Has Keith Mitchell outfoxed himself and put the NNP in stormy and uncertain waters due to his selfish and tenacious handling of the affairs of the party?
The NNP might have already pressed the panic button due to the happenings in the past week but it can take some comfort as the ruling Congress party is still not politically organised to sweep the polls in the next general election.
The NDC leadership has to make some serious, critical and difficult decisions in 2025 on the roadmap to winning a second five year term in its quest to hold onto power in the Botanical Gardens.
The Congress Government has performed in the past two-and-a-half years in office in keeping with its promises to the electorate in the last general election but the same cannot be said of its party structure which is nothing short of being woefully dismal.
Its current General Secretary Learrie Barry does not seem to have a clue about organised political work at the Constituency level.
The Leadership in the ruling party needs to recruit a political czar from outside the country as what Keith Mitchell did in the 1990-95 period with Jamaica’s Joan Webley to put the necessary party structures in place to drive the political work on the ground.
The same can be said of the NDC Public Relations apparatus under Orlando Romain whose strength might be in the Creative sector but is lacking the type of knowledge needed to promote the work of Congress as a party as distinct from that of the government.
THE NEW TODAY believes that the NDC is the party that has an election to win provided the organised political work is done on the battlefield that lies ahead.