BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, May 8th, 2010 (Labour Secretariat) - Three months after the General Elections in the Federation, the People’s Action Movement (PAM) has not yet fully recovered from their defeat and is still trying to put their house in order.
Word is emerging that there is a rift in the party and that the party’s embattled leader, Lindsay Grant, is clinging to power despite concerns from his colleagues about his integrity, sagacity and credibility to remain as the party’s leader following the well publicized Marriott meeting, in which he was caught on tape negotiating a bribe with an unknown foreign investor who just happened to be an undercover journalist.
Things will never be the same after that sordid affair.
It has created deep distrust among Grant and some of his colleagues and their consciences cannot allow them to continue throwing their support behind a man who went behind their backs to negotiate a shady deal that has done a lot of damage to the image of the party.
Grant has given no signal that he intends to step down as the party’s leader despite his colleagues’ serious concerns about the party’s direction and future with him at the helm.
Clinging to power is obviously more important to him than his party’s image, one disgruntled candidate in the January 25th, 2010 General Elections said.
Whereas Grant’s colleagues are exercising caution in speaking with the Media, they are openly making their discontent known to family and friends, including Labour supporters.
In a recent interview with SKNVibes.com, Glenroy Blanchette, the PAM candidate who ran and lost in Constituency #1, and Ronald “Louie” Williams, the defeated candidate in Constituency #7, failed to openly show their support for Grant to continue as the party’s leader, a sign that they are disgruntled with his leadership.
And although Grant has said that he has the full support of his party’s executive and rank and file, it is extremely questionable and shows a lame attempt to show unity when obviously there is discord. That discord has to do with Grant, although he is unaccepting of the fact.
PAM’s convention, which is usually held in March/April was pushed back to July, another sign of deep seated leadership problems in the party, even though the top brass of the PAM are trying to deflect attention away from this truth.
The “cash for land” bribery scandal at the Marriott Hotel is only the tip of the iceberg to more serious problems in the party that calls into question Grant’s integrity as a leader.
But all of this highlights another truth—PAM is not ready to lead this country—And Grant is not Prime Minister material.
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
As the days drag into weeks and the weeks turn into months, more light will emerge on the cancer taking root in the PAM. There are those who believe that Grant is the most carcinogenic thing happening to the party at this time and that he should step aside.
Grant’s call for integrity in public life legislation is a far cry from the actions of a man who sat down with a so called unknown investor and negotiated a bribe.
His campaign to champion the cause of landless citizens is a mockery to those who witnessed Grant caught on a tape negotiating to sell prime crown lands at an underestimated price in exchange for additional money to fund his party’s campaign, should he become Prime Minister.
One of Grant’s colleagues has said that he should have been above board and that the Marriott affair shows that he has integrity issues that were brought to the fore and sullied by the Marriott affair.
Unlike Judas, no one expects Grant to take his own life, but like social commentator and political activist, Washington “Washie” Archibald has said “PAM supporters cannot now avoid the reasonable inevitable conclusion that the Marriott (affair) was a major scandal that their leader was unfortunately entrapped in a sting operation and the he is now too tainted to do anything else but decline the leadership of the party”.
Instead of accepting responsibility for his lack of sound judgment for what took place at the Marriott, Grant has said that calls for his resignation are attempts to deflect attention from the crime situation in the country. Do you really think so Mr. Grant?
It is rather a matter of shedding light on your serious leadership deficiencies that has thrown your party into the crisis it is now.
It is time that you do some introspection and put the party’s interest above yours.
