The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

ATTORNEY Sean McWeeney has described the ongoing aspirant candidates’ process within the Progressive Liberal Party as being plagued by “vicious” infighting.

According to the former PLP chairman, the party has a “penchant” for fighting among supporters, an issue he suggested that has caused the organisation to lose elections.

Coupled with attracting too many people who come into politics for the wrong reasons, he said both issues were major faults of the PLP.

“For some reason the PLP just loves infighting – loves to fight amongst themselves,” Mr McWeeney, QC, said in an interview with party member Quinton Lightbourne, posted on the PLP’s Facebook page in observance of the party’s 67th anniversary.

“You see this playing out right now in the competition for nominations for constituencies. I mean vicious infighting.

“People aren’t content just to put their case as to why they should be made the nominee. No, they gotta bring the next guy down. They gotta speak about the other person who is trying to get the nomination in the vilest baseless way.”

According to Mr McWeeney, this is nothing new for the party. He was asked his views on the biggest internal threats the PLP has had to face over the years and whether he believed the threats are still challenges for the party today.

“One of them I alluded to earlier is that the PLP has a very great weakness, which has been demonstrated throughout its political history and that is it has a tendency to resort to infighting that can very often be incredibly destructive,” he said early on in the interview.

“Destructive in the sense that it alienates people causing them to leave the party. There is a level of venomous action, which some people can never forget or get over and a lot of people have been deeply wounded and alienated by this over the years.

“The PLP has always been like this.”

He said if PLPs had put the same kind of energy into opposing the Free National Movement, the party would “never lose an election”.

“As I said, if the PLP put half the energy into fighting the opposition party, the Free National Movement, put half of the energy into that than it puts into infighting, it would never lose an election.

“But it just has this penchant for distracting itself with this internal infighting and that’s a major weakness, a major problem and it’s evident throughout the history of the party any particular period of the party’s history you go back and you’re going to see that this is a major factor.”

Regarding the candidates the party has been known to attract, Mr McWeeney said this also presents a challenge for the PLP.

“I think the other major fault that we have is that we seem to attract too many people who are going into politics for entirely the wrong reason.

“Again, you see this with some of the candidates who are coming forward and this has always been the case where people are going into politics for all of the wrong reasons. They are not going into politics to help people. They are basically going into politics to help themselves and they – very naively and corruptly – think that this is a get rich quick thing for them.

“I say it’s naive because the 67 years that the party has come through that period is littered with a whole lot of broken bones of bankrupt people who went into politics and lost everything because your constituents, I can tell you, are the most ungrateful people who you will ever find anywhere on the planet.

“If you think they are going to remember you for the couple dollars you put in their pocket today or the ham or turkey that you are going to buy this Christmas, you are more naive than you realise.”

He continued: “People have very short memories. They are not going to remember or be grateful to you. They’re not going to feel that that means anything to them a couple years from now and they’re never going to be satisfied. You can never give them everything they want. They are always going to have some new agenda for you. That part I can understand, but what is infinitely worse is people who really think that by going into politics they are going to make themselves wealthy men. That they’ll be able to pull deals that will make them wealthy men and that is what politicians do.

“That’s not so, you know. It’s never been that case. You know that — unfortunately the PLP has this bad rep of being a corrupt party.”

Mr McWeeney said across the political divide there were people who come into politics for the wrong reasons, adding he remains concerned about people only worried about “feathering their own nests” entering politics whether it be for the PLP or FNM.

Asked about Mr McWeeney’s assertions, PLP Chairman Fred Mitchell said the process now unfolding within the party for choosing candidates was in accordance with its new constitution and rules promulgated by the candidates committee.

He said what is happening is open and transparent and in the end democracy will prevail.

“This process is not to the downfall of the PLP,” Mr Mitchell said. “No more damaging than Kamala Harris now the vice president-elect of the United States who ran in the primaries against the man who is now president-elect.

“The process of the competition for power in a democratic society and a democratic party like ours will sometimes be noisy, but the party is sound and is advancing under Philip ‘Brave’ Davis’ capable leadership to win the next election whenever it is called.”

As for the calibre of aspirant candidates, Mr Mitchell said this crop is “good” and from a wide cross section of demographics and abilities.

“The country will be very pleased at the blend which will emerge of youth and experience.

“This time around is different in the sense that while there was consultation before, this time each branch is required to make a formal input and recommendation into the process subject to due diligence by the candidates committee.

“It’s new and unfamiliar to many but I believe it is certainly healthy for democracy,” Mr Mitchell said.