This week’s resignations of several executive members from the St Patrick West branch of the New National Party (NNP) of Keith Mitchell is a clear sign that things are very uncertain in the political organisation.
THE NEW TODAY believes that more resignations will soon follow in light of the Peter David episode in the party.
It is not clear how long the exodus of NNP members will continue into 2025 but those behind it are clearly bent on making the party not attractive to the electorate in the next general election.
It is obvious that Keith Mitchell did not look ahead at the possible repercussions and ramifications in the manner in which he forced Peter David to resign from the party in the wake of the grand farce that took place to install Emmalin Pierre into the position of new party boss at the December 15 Convention.
David had entrenched himself within the NNP after his expulsion from Congress and many party members and supporters saw him as the natural successor to the 78-year old aging longstanding party leader.
One of the elders in the party Prescott Swan “confessed” that Mitchell once told him that he sees David as the only one to take over the leadership of the party as the others who might be considered were too lazy.
This obviously included Emmalin Pierre, the former Education Minister who has been with the party for the past 20 years.
Mitchell might have out-foxed himself in the manner in which he did an about turn and devoured and humiliated David in the full view of the public at Zonal meetings of the party leading up to the Convention.
Many pundits regard Mitchell’s stepping down as Political Leader at this time in favour of Pierre as a tactical move on his part to re-emerge in about 12 to 16 months to take back the position and lead NNP into the next election to give him another shot at the job of Prime Minister of the country.
The Peter David hit back is now beginning to hurt the NNP and damaging its image in the eyes of the public.
The former Assistant General Secretary and ex-Minister of Agriculture was liked by many in the party and seen as a more worthy person than Pierre to lead NNP into the next election.
The NNP, under David would have resulted in the party going in a new and different direction which would have significantly diminished the Keith Mitchell influence and legacy.
The close advisors known to be around David would have reshaped the NNP and most of the policies being pursued by Keith Mitchell and his close ally Gregory Bowen.
With David in charge of the political organisation, there is no way that Keith Mitchell could stage a political comeback for the next election.
Unlike Emmalin Pierre who has to be heavily reliant on Keith Mitchell for everything in the political arena, it is different with David who is known to be a significant raiser of funds to carry out his political activities.
The grim reality facing the aged NNP party boss is that under David’s leadership, he would have lost total control and grip on the political entity that he has been controlling for the past 36 years.
Mitchell should have expected this turn of events within the NNP in the political fall-out with David.
It was the same modus operandi from the David Camp following their expulsion from Congress in 2012 as they set about to make sure that the party was defeated in the 2013 general election.
The anti-NDC sentiments were directed more at their fellow revolutionary colleague former Finance Minister Nazim Burke for what they consider to be his betrayal and to a lesser extent the then political leader and Prime Minister Tillman Thomas.
Today, the Peter David followers have no serious “beef” in the political scheme of things with Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell and Congress but more so with the foxy Keith Mitchell who used and then discarded them in his usual manner.
The Keith Mitchell/Gregory Bowen/Emmalin Pierre team will feel the full wrath of the onslaught against them by Peter David and his associates who will make life extremely difficult for them in the coming weeks and months.
The NNP will be seen as a party to be avoided by those who might be thinking of venturing into the political arena.
The recent spate of resignations will physologically impact on NNP supporters despite statements to the contrary from Emmalin Pierre and others in the leadership rank.
The NNP bleeding will only stop in the face of the onslaught from Peter David and his followers when Keith Mitchell is politically destroyed finally and loses all his influence and grip on the party.