Despite several resignations including that of its General Secretary Dawn Hastings-Williams, the People’s National Congress Reform intends to run off its 22nd Biennial Delegates Congress this weekend.
Congress Administrator Sherwin Benjamin told reporters during a virtual press conference on Wednesday that the General Secretary’s resignation and complaints from several groups within the party have done little to affect the hosting of the congress.
Incumbent Leader Aubrey Norton was absent from the press conference. He is seeking re-election.
The congress will address several motions and questions on Saturday, among which is a motion seeking to have Norton selected as the presidential candidate for the party at national elections in 2025.
“Preparations are almost complete… questions and motions were submitted to the person responsible (Basil Williams, SC) and were dispatched to the printers,” Benjamin said though he would not confirm that there is a motion seeking to have Norton as the party’s presidential candidate.
“I am not going to let the cat out of the bag. Saturday it will be settled… I may have seen one of those,” he added.
Notwithstanding the unsettling internal battles, Benjamin was confident that the party would host a transparent and fair congress and maintained that the resignation of Hastings-Williams would have no adverse effect on the congress.
As customary, she will not present the General Secretary’s report to the congress but Benjamin assured that the secretariat will handle all outstanding matters.
“The margin of error in what has transpired in the process is minimal… persons making complaints don’t understand the internal procedures of the party,” Benjamin added when asked to comment on the complaints of party groups and other incidents including discrepancies in the delegates list and missing data from the secretariat.
A total of seven persons have been nominated for the post of leader: Norton, Roysdale Forde, Amanza Walton-Desir, Simona Broomes, Carl Greenidge and Volda Lawrence.
Another 10 persons are contesting for the position of Chairman, 14 persons for Vice Chairman, six persons for Treasurer and 119 others to become members of the Central Executive Committee.
