NAR TOBAGO IN DISARRAY

The Tobago arm of the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) is in disarray.

This was obvious during a meeting of the party at Scarborough Secondary School Sunday evening which attracted fewer than 50 persons. Party members were openly critical, and harshly so, of the current Executive, with calls for its immediate removal and an interim body to be put in place. The party’s public relations officer (PRO) Jonathan Stone claimed that his functions were “taken away” from him by the current party chairman Christo Gift. Allegations and counter allegations were the order of the day with Stone subsequently walking out of the meeting and almost everyone having a problem with “washing the party’s dirty linen” in full glare of the two media representatives present.  All agreed there were serious problems affecting the party which must be addressed immediately if NAR Tobago is to survive.

It was suggested — and subsequently agreed — that a “closed-door meeting” be convened as soon as possible to allow everyone to freely “vent their feelings.” Before that, it was suggested that Gift  defer his address, the media be excused and a 45-minute “free-for-all” session be allowed, but there was no agreement on this. With proceedings waxing very warm, Stone, speaking from the floor, earlier enquired: “When will the time and the forum come when I will be able to state my grievances before the end of this year? Will that forum ever come into existence? And the way things are going I doubt it very much, that I will ever get an opportunity to do as Mr (Cecil) Caruth said earlier this evening: ‘let the healing begin.’” Alluding to many references  made to the party’s Constitution, Stone charged that “the Constitution of the NAR had been subverted from the very inception.” He said: “I have grievances, you know, people. I speak with emotion. I am saying that there is something radically wrong.” He claimed that different persons in the People’s National Movement (PNM) have also been trying to woo him, but stressed that his commitment was to the NAR.

Yet another well-known NAR activist, Nita Inniss, said people were afraid to openly associate with the NAR. A fellow member warned: “If we don’t move forward with the NAR we ain’t going nowhere!.” To which another added his voice: “If we don’t speed up the thing we will lose out!” Noting that “we hear about the NAR going forward,” a female member expressed displeasure over the manner in which the “problems” were aired publicly and summed it all up: “The first thing people would say is “you not ready!’”