Stella Says…Will Captain Corbin go down with his ship?

by Stella Ramsaroop

(Originally published in Guyana's Kaieteur News on 26 October 2006)

One day Robert Corbin, party leader and presidential candidate for the PNC, is stepping down from his position. The next day he is not. Does anyone know what is going on at Congress Place?

I have long believed Corbin should step down and have said so on more than one occasion in this column. In my opinion, if any political party in the world cannot win an election with a certain candidate, then that candidate has had his/her chance and it is time to move on to more promising prospects.

Under Corbin’s leadership, the PNC sailed into some stormy weather in the last elections when it lost a good portion of its support base. This should say a lot. Yet for some reason, there he still holding on for dear life while the PNC’s ship continues to sink. Has anyone at Congress Place thought that it might be time to find a new captain?

If Corbin has not decided to step down, then he should certainly be considering it – for the good of the party. Could Corbin’s refusal to step down be the reason why so many people have recently parted ways with the PNC? I think it is highly probable.

However, the foremost question in lieu of such a scenario would be who would replace Corbin. Raphael Trotman has his own thing going now. Stanley Ming made a run for it. Peter Ramsaroop has distance himself from the party. Even Sherwood Lowe went his own way.

That does not leave very many options for strong leadership in the PNC, which may also be by design. So who would it be? Maybe it would be Basil Williams, who has controversial cloud following him around. That strategy seems to work well for the PPP.

At least the PPP has Smart and Sharp Robert Persaud, MBA to fall back on should they need some leadership. I’m sure he would be all too happy to jump in and fill any leadership gaps in the upper echelons and I bet there are others who are biting at the bit for their chance too.

Yet no one seems to be all that anxious to try and save the PNC’s sinking ship. In fact, most PNC shipmates seem to be jumping ship as fast as possible. Will Corbin let the ship sink under his leadership? Will the PNC executive members abandon ship or start a mutiny?

Somebody pass me the popcorn because this movie just got good and I can’t wait to see how it ends.

Email: StellaSays[at]gmail.com