Julius Espat sings welcome to the party to Cordel…

Cordel Hyde

There was a meeting scheduled for this afternoon between P.U.P. prodigal son Cordel Hyde and the leadership of the party. Both Hyde and those leaders have made no secret of the fact that there have been discussions geared at bringing the former Lake Independence Area Representative back into the fold. The meeting was postponed because key members of the discussions could not be present but the matter, we are told, is still very much on the table. Today P.U.P. Deputy Leader Julius Espat sang a muted but credible chorus of Welcome to the Party for Hyde, but there is still some doubt that the popular politician will be greeted with a fatted calf.

Julius Espat, Deputy Leader, P.U.P.

“I have not personally heard Cordel say anything negative about any party leader in my time. Cordel was a minister, Cordel was an area representative; he never lost. He has his own reasons why he decided not to run. We have to be open. I think it is important though that we—if there is any way of us sitting down and having a discussions—we have to have a certain level of trust and I think that has been lacking in the P.U.P. for some time now. And I think we need to establish trust between us. I personally open to sit with any persons especially Cordel Hyde because hi know that he has a certain level of popularity in his division. You cannot take that away from him and we need to have an open discussion. What are you offering to the party? Are you a part of this reform and change that the party leader has put in place for us to do? And how can you be a part of it and help the P.U.P. form government? Those are important questions that I think needs to be discussed and we should be opened to that. And there should be no fear of sitting down and speaking to somebody like that.”

Reporter

Julius Espat

“So then, is it your feeling that he would have to make some public acts of contrition to show his emphatic and unambiguous support for the current leaders of the P.U.P.?”

Julius Espat

“But I don’t see it any other way. You are either with the leader and the P.U.P. or you are not; if you want to run on our ticket.”