There are good people who will be willing to make that sacrifice but you will never get a resume from them – hell no.
Those were the words uttered by a leading Grenadian politician in reaction to plans by the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to submit a copy of their CV and resume to the Candidate Screening Committee for consideration as a candidate for the upcoming general election.
In an exclusive interview with THE NEW TODAY, the politician who has won at the polls on two previous occasions said: “What kind of nonsense is that? That is the height of stupidity. I am totally disappointed in it – I think we could do a lot better than what we are doing.”
“I am baffled. In all my 30-something years of politics since from a teenager to now I have never seen anything like that” he added.
He described the NDC candidate selection process that was leaked into the public domain as “a recipe for confusion”.
According to the retired politician, selecting a candidate for a constituency is a meticulous process and expressed fears that the NDC is putting one person against the other in trying to identify someone to run on its ticket.
He said: “Even when you put somebody in a constituency that doesn’t mean that they will show you the signs that they are eligible to run and that they fit that constituency to run in even if they come with the best Resume.
Stressing that selecting a candidate for a constituency is not an academic thing, he recalled that “good people” had to go and speak to former Congress leader, Sir Nicholas Brathwaite to take up the leadership of the party for the 1990 general election and not look at CV and Resume.
In addition, he said that a candidate needs at least two years and not 3 to 4 months to do work in a constituency to be in with a very good chance of winning it at the polls.
“You will have to work overtime even if you get one year to work the constituency,” he told THE NEW TODAY.
The political figure dropped hints that the new NDC leader, 44-year old Dickon Mitchell is seemingly trying to contest the next election against the incumbent Prime Minister through a Presidential-style type of campaigning.
He warned that all politics is local with battles taking place in all fifteen constituencies among candidates and PM Mitchell should not be taken lightly as he has the nation’s financial purse in his hands for the upcoming general elections.
He said that NDC has to get its machinery ready for the elections and not concentrate on when Dr. Mitchell will call the poll.
The political figure noted that over the years NDC has lacked “the winning experience” in politics like Prime Minister Mitchell and the ruling New National Party (NNP) which has won every election on the island from 1984 except in 1990 and 2008 when Congress was in power.
He appealed to Congress to get its political act together as quickly as possible as time is running out in terms of the timeframe for the next national poll.
“I am very concerned that we are losing this election as we speak,” he said, adding that time is running out for the opposition to get ready and prepared to face up to the ruling party at the polls.
According to the opposition official, the Congress leader should not take PM Mitchell lightly as he is very unpredictable.
“He (Dickon Mitchell) doesn’t understand the viciousness of the character of Keith Mitchell that he’s dealing with,” he said.
The opposition politician urged Dickon Mitchell to make the adjustment and necessary transformation from a career attorney-at-law and into the political arena.
“…I am not seeing it, am not feeling it – I don’t know,” he said.
THE NEW TODAY also spoke to one Congress politician who expressed reservations about emphasis being placed on a candidate’s CV as part of the selection process for the party.
He said the National Executive should allow the constituency to identify the candidate based on the reaction to the person of the potential electorate.
He added that there is nothing wrong if the National Executive then wants to screen the chosen candidate but the constituency must be involved in the selection process because in the final analysis, the chosen candidate “must come from the bowels of the people.”
“In politics people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. So having a big resume that is boasting of how much you know. People don’t care no shit about that. What people want to know is how much you care about them and then they will take a minute to listen to your qualifications,” he remarked.
The NDC is trying to rebuild under Dickon Mitchell who won the post of Political Leader at the end of October.
A pro-Dickon Mitchell backer offered the following explanation on the issue, saying, “CV is not about academics. The committee will not know everyone who expresses an interest to be a candidate. Your CV should give one an appreciation as to how community minded you are, where your passion lies, if you are a team player, a leader or follower. A CV will reveal more or less the same information that will be revealed during an interview. Remember, Candidates do not always have Ministerial qualities, so let’s not get carried away by the letters CV.”