P.U.P. Chairman Comments on UDP’s Messy Infighting

This morning, two conflicting press releases emerged under the United Democratic Party (U.D.P.) banner, one from Moses “Shyne” Barrow and the other from Tracy Taegar-Panton. Both figures rejected each other’s involvement in the party. Barrow insisted that Sunday’s convention was illegitimate and not officially linked to the U.D.P., while Panton dismissed Barrow’s leadership and criticism. As this internal dispute intensifies, questions are being raised about the opposition’s ability to effectively hold the government accountable. The P.U.P.’s Chairman, Henry Charles Usher, was asked to weigh in on the situation.

 

Henry Charles Usher, Chairman, P.U.P.

“I think looking at it from a governance perspective, it is unfortunate the way the opposition can’t seem to get their act together, the infighting that they’re having because They are part of the government. They are elected by the people they serve in the National Assembly. We’ve been arguing about this, or making a mention of it to the Speaker that you have a member of the opposition that has not appeared in the House of Representatives except for that first initial time and probably stayed for thirty minutes. That is a good governance issue. You are elected by the people to do a job and you just refuse to show up to do your job. So that is something. The motion last week to remove opposition members from House committees, making it almost impossible that the opposition will be able to be a part of all of these House committees. I think on Wednesday, yesterday, there were like six House committees. I’m not sure how many of them the opposition attended.”