As the leader of the largest opposition party in the National Assembly, Mr Robert Corbin holds a constitutional office of vital importance. One of the principal features of that office and position is not only primary responsibility for holding the government accountable, but when performed competently, for contributing to the nature, pace and quality of the legislative and social agenda of the country as well as reining in an over-enthusiastic or errant government. Accordingly, what Mr Corbin does or fails to do as Leader of the Opposition and of the main opposition party is not purely a domestic matter for that party and its supporters but is of national importance.
Since Mr Corbin assumed the leadership of the PNCR following the death of Mr Desmond Hoyte in 2002, the party has effectively lost its Reform component, key members of its leadership, electoral support, influence, focus and direction. The emasculation has been so substantial and dramatic that the party has lost credibility and the respect of numerous Guyanese at home and abroad. While the party still calls itself the PNC-Reform, the ‘R’ except for Dr George Norton is gone, several of its leading members including Eric Phillips, Stanley Ming, Jerome Khan, Peter Ramsaroop, Dr Mark Kirton and Ms Supriya Singh having decamped.
Prominent members to have departed from the core party under Mr Corbin’s watch are such energetic, resourceful and young leaders as Sherwood Lowe, Artie Ricknauth, Joseph Hamilton and Ricky Khan. Others to have left include Dr Faith Harding, Ivor Allen, Dr Dalgleish Joseph, John Simon de Freitas and Hamley Case, former Chairman of the Finance Committee. Then of course there have been Desmond Moses and Raphael Trotman who went off to form the AFC, taking with them thousands of traditional PNC votes. Now, the party in the full glare of publicity has unceremoniously and acrimoniously parted company with two of its few remaining able and long-serving members in and out of Parliament, Vincent Alexander and James McAllister.
Under Mr Corbin, the party has effectively gutted itself of talent, political capital and institutional memory which many people believe have weakened it beyond repair in the near future. The best the party can hope for is that many of those who have left can be persuaded to return to rebuild the party, but that seems improbable with Mr Corbin as leader.
Under Mr Corbin’s leadership, the party at the 2006 elections experienced its worst ever electoral performance gaining just 34% of the valid votes cast, down from 42% in 2001. Not without significance is that the theme for those elections was Mr Corbin and his “Promise to make Guyana safe again.”
Mr Corbin’s record as Leader of the Opposition on political, economic and social developments and issues has been remarkably unimpressive. He has been ineffective in the face of persistent breaches of key provisions of the constitution on public finances, presidential powers, rights commissions and the Office of the Ombudsman. Many believe that President Jagdeo finds Mr Corbin extremely malleable, somewhat at his beck and call, to engage in inconclusive discussions on matters which for the most part are only tangential to the pressing issues facing our society and his party’s stated priorities. In sum, there is discomfort, dismay and hopelessness both among the party’s supporters and the wider society about the net effect of Mr Corbin’s leadership.
Mr Corbin is a seasoned politician who has served his party with energy, loyalty and pride for decades. As someone who undoubtedly cares about the future of the party and the direction in which this country is headed, Mr Corbin ought to recognise that the party urgently needs new, capable leadership to save itself from further and terminal damage. Leadership that will generate ideas and exude energy and vitality, none of which he seems capable of offering.
As difficult as it may appear to Mr Corbin, the real test of his leadership would be an admission that he no longer offers to his the party and the combined opposition, the quality of leadership which the circumstances and the state of our democracy require. It is a glorious opportunity for him to demonstrate that he puts country and party before personal considerations.