By LINCOLN DEPRADINE
The leader of Guyana’s opposition People’s National Congress–Reform (PNC-R), which lost power to the People’s Progressive Party (PPP)/Civic of current President Irfaan Ali in 2020, is confident of a return to office after the country’s next general election.
“We will beat the People’s Progressive Party,” Opposition Leader Aubrey Compton Norton told supporters at a town hall meeting in Toronto. “If Guyana is to grow, the PPP must go.”
On his latest visit to Toronto, Norton headed a three-man delegation that included Mervyn Williams and Ganesh Mahipaul, members of the central executive committee of the PNC-R.
Like Norton, Mahipaul and Williams also are parliamentary representatives in Guyana’s National Assembly.
The Toronto meeting, held at the Huntingwood Drive headquarters of Tropicana Community Services, was a fundraiser and a “grounding-with-the-people type of activity”, Norton said in an interview with Share.
“I had promised the Guyanese community here that I will visit once a year, and so this is part of fulfilling that promise. Every year since I’ve been leader, I come around this time,” said Norton, explaining his presence in Toronto.
“The second thing is to engage them and update them on what is happening in Guyana. It also provides the opportunity for me to interact with Guyanese in Canada at the individual level; going and meeting other Guyanese, outside of those who are involved in these activities.”
Norton and his two colleagues, in addressing the meeting, criticized the performance of the PPP/Civic administration and the governance of Guyana.
A future PNC-R government, said Williams, “shall rescue” Guyana and return the country “to a place where all Guyanese feel they have a stake in the country”.
For his part, Mahipaul said he was sure, and was “without a doubt,” that “the next President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana” will be Norton.
He also appealed for the continued support for the PNC-R from the Guyanese overseas community.
“You yourself can come back home and vote and vote them out, because that is what we have to do,” said Mahipaul.
Norton, too, made a direct pitch to overseas-based Guyanese, including those in Canada.
“You here, in the Diaspora, you have a key role to play, not only in terms of educating people and informing them, but also being supportive of the actions that will change Guyana into a better place,” said Norton, holder of a political science degree and a graduate of the University of Kent’s master’s degree international relations program.
Norton said he and the PNC-R have been advocating for changes to the electoral system, including calling for a “clean voters’ list”.
However, with or without the changes, the opposition will be ready when an election date is announced, said Norton.
“We continue to prepare. You’re never totally ready but we’re doing as much as possible to ensure that whenever it’s called, we’re up and ready and running,” he told Share.
Support for the PNC-R, said Norton, has been on the increase.
“We believe that the PPP is losing support and the opposition forces are gaining support,” said Norton, pledging that a PNC-R administration “will work assiduously to ensure we serve all the people of Guyana”.
The PNC-R is “committed to good governance”, he added.
“We are committed to a democratic society; we are committed to ensuring the resources from oil and gas meet the people of Guyana. That is our commitment,” said Norton.
“The biggest problem right now is that there are plenty of resources but very little of it meeting the ordinary man in Guyana.”
