BURKE
PAUL BURKE, head of the People's National Party's (PNP) 'Campaign for Transformation', is sticking by his claim that the party's delegate structure needs to be revamped.
On Sunday, the former PNP Region Three chairman, in a document entitled - 'Rethinking of the Future - The Risk to Our Internal Democratic Process', charged that the PNP's group structure has been consistently undermined for more than a decade.
"We like to claim that we are a genuine people's party and that it is through our group structure that our internal democracy works," Mr. Burke said in the document. "But do all of us really believe it, and is it really democracy or a mirage?"
SOLVING THE ISSUE
Contacted yesterday, Mr. Burke reiterated his view that the PNP leadership has been reticent about solving the issue.
"I will go into any forum with any of them (party leadership) and discuss this issue," he told The Gleaner. "Not one of them can successfully challenge the truth about what I've said."
According to Mr. Burke, there are as many as 500 paper or bogus groups, out of a total of approximately 2,500 delegates groups.
"And if you include the non-functioning groups, it could be as many as 50 per cent," he said. He added that PNP groups are expected to assist in recruitment, political education, community outreach and electoral work, among other functions.
"So obviously, if groups don't exist, these things are not carried out, and that is one of the weaknesses of our organisational structure," Mr. Burke said. "The PNP has the potential to be four times as strong out in the field if all our groups were semi-functional."
LEGITIMACY
In the document, which was distributed at Sunday's PNP National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, Mr. Burke said "notable" Members of Parliament, constituency caretakers and divisional leaders, deliberately hampered officials of the PNP secretariat who tried to audit groups to determine their legitimacy.
He however singled out party leader P.J. Patterson for showing a keen interest in getting the issue of the group structure settled.
AUDITING PROCESS
Yesterday Maureen Webber, deputy PNP general secretary in charge of organisation, admitted to The Gleaner that the auditing process was not smooth.
"I faced challenges," she said. "But the good thing is that the party's constitution is clear on the way to go and we are committed to it."
Yesterday Mr. Burke also stressed that the PNP's democracy was not a "sham", despite any failings.
"There are real groups with democratically-elected delegates, but there is a major flaw in the system," he said.
- O.A.
