Last Updated on Friday, 15 March 2024, 21:26 by Written By Denis Chabrol
Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Aubrey Norton on Friday said he was confident that he would win a second term as party leader, and that his integrity was a major advantage in confronting the incumbent People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) administration.
“I’m convinced that when the congress comes, I would be re-elected leader to be a thorn in the side of the People’s Progressive Party,” he told a news conference. Unlike the PPP whose 35-member Central Committee had picked Mr Bharrat Jagdeo and Dr Irfaan Ali as that party’s presidential candidate, Mr Norton said more than 1,000 persons voted overwhelmingly for him.
Claiming that the PPP did not want him as PNCR Leader, Mr Norton accused the governing party of trumping up baseless claims of illegality. Mr Norton once again challenged Mr Jagdeo and Dr Ali to match their wealth with their income, in contrast to his assets that he said could withstand scrutiny. “I could say to you: you could check on everything I have. It is backed by loans and my salary and no evidence of corruption,” Mr Norton said.
Without providing specific information, the PNCR Leader claimed that the PPP was paying persons to say that he was corrupt; accusations that he denied. “I can say to this nation, I can say to all party persons: I’m involved in no corruption whatsoever. I will continue to stay like that because I believe that is my strength against the corrupt PPP regime,” he said.
Turning his attention to the financing of the PNCR, Mr Norton said that since he was elected party leader, that political organisation has not risked taking money from “any big businessmen” like the PPP has been doing. “We have been managing this party from the resources of our membership and small business supporters,” he said. M Norton feared that if the PNCR took money from big businesses, they would expect returns from a government which is party would be part of. “One of the problems when the ‘big PPP supporters’ support you is that when you get power, they want everything at the expense of our support base and the wider society,” he said.
