The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

LABOUR and National Insurance Minister Shane Gibson was dismissive yesterday of Alfred Sears’ reported decision to file a formal complaint with Progressive Liberal Party trustees over the party’s internal elections because of concerns about fairness and transparency.

Mr Gibson, the convention’s chairman, said: “Have you ever seen when a candidate who is losing didn’t file a complaint? “Even in the United States. When you’re ahead you don’t worry about it but when you’re losing you look for reasons to explain why you lose. You need excuses.”

For weeks Mr Sears, a former attorney general, has raised concerns about the process by which the PLP’s party leader will be chosen.

The Nassau Guardian reported Wednesday that Mr Sears sent an official letter of complaint to party trustees, questioning an action by which more than 300 stalwart councillors were ratified a week before the leadership vote as well as the party’s decision that any interpretation of the rules by trustees must be considered final and not subject to further reviews and appeals.

In dismissing Mr Sears’ complaints, Mr Gibson emphasised that the party’s convention process has been unchanged from past versions of the event.

“We didn’t create new ways to appoint stalwart councillors or delegates,” he said. “Everybody knows what the rules are. This is the system we’ve always used. It’s a system where everybody has a voice, where elections take place in each branch and every member from each branch or constituency vote on who they want their delegates to be.

“The point is you hear complaints all the time when someone feels like they’re losing. Every time you have an election, you hear these things. In the unions, even in the church. That don’t concern me. No matter how you complain, it’s the people who vote, not the system.”

Valentine Grimes, a PLP trustee, said he wasn’t aware that Mr Sears had made an official complaint.

Consequently, he said he could not explain how the party would move to address Mr Sears’ action.

Regarding complaints about the recent appointments of stalwart councillors so close to the convention, he said: “That’s water under the bridge. That’s history.

“Is (Mr Sears) suggesting that we shouldn’t have as much people participate as possible? There is no provision that prohibits us from appointing stalwart councillors and delegates when we did. It is a non-issue for us.”