Tracy Panton: “Who sanctioned the leadership of Shyne Barrow?”

After the October twentieth Unity Convention, Shyne Barrow continued to assert that the delegates’ endorsement of Taegar-Panton during the event did not legitimize her leadership of the United Democratic Party.

 

On the phone: Tracy Taegar-Panton, Interim Leader, U.D.P.

“Who sanctioned the leadership of Shyne Barrow?  How is it that Shyne Barrow is considered the leader of the United Democratic Party?  It happened when there was a convention at Bird’s Isle in August 2023 when there was an endorsement convention for the party leader by the same delegates who came to the Unity Convention on October twentieth, 2024.  There was a change in position regarding the United Democratic Party and a request by the same delegates to have a leadership reset.  And to do that, there had to be a recall of the former leader, the honorable Moses “Shyne” Barrow and also an endorsement of an interim leader.  It is the national convention that validates or authenticates and defines my role as leader, as the new interim leader of the United Democratic Party.  It certainly helps that more colleagues are coming onboard to affirm their commitment to unifying the party, to supporting the new leadership team and to defending the democracy that we believe is currently in peril without an active and engaged opposition.  So I don’t know anyone who is clear thinking can say that Shyne Barrow’s leadership was authenticated by a convention, but Tracy Panton’s leadership was not authenticated at a convention where the same set of delegates voted in both conventions.”