PNCR’s Congress possibly next year August

Last Updated on Friday, 8 September 2023, 15:34 by Denis Chabrol

The People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR)- the major party in Guyana’s opposition- could return to holding its congress in August, although the two-year life of the current executive expires in December, party leader Aubrey Norton said Friday.

“There will be a congress. What I can’t guarantee you is that it will be in December because there is also the view that we should return congress to its statutory August so that in going forward it is back to its normal place,” he told a news conference.

Earlier Friday, PNCR General Secretary Dawn Hastings-Williams said the party was working towards holding congress by December 2023, and the dispatch of a circular to party groups would depend on when the long overdue General Council meeting is held.

He said the PNCR’s Central Executive would meet and decide on a timetable for holding the congress, the highest decision-making body of that party.

Recalling that the 2021 Biennial Delegates Congress had been held on December 21st because the COVID-19 virus was rampant had been rampant in August of that year, he said there was no rule stating that that the next congress must be held two years to the date of the last one.

The PNCR Leader noted the importance of holding congress in August because it is “best and conducive” to doing so when schools are closed and so could be used to accommodate delegates from remote areas.

The 2021 Congress was largely held virtually at central locations in each of the 10 administrative regions and in overseas.

On the more than one year delay in the holding of another General Council, Mr Norton said the PNCR’s constitution allows the Central Executive to continue to manage party affairs in the absence of such a council meeting.