Peoples National Congress Reform (PNCR) Leader, Aubrey Norton is of the opinion that comments made by a party stalwart, the former Mayor of Georgetown, Hamilton Green about rigging elections was taken out of context.
Green made the assertion during a ceremony to commemorate the 101st birth anniversary of PNCR’s founder and former Head of State, Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham. The former President and by extension, the PNCR has long been accused of elections rigging. As recent as 2020, the party faced criticism for its role in allegedly trying to manipulate elections results, with one of its high-level officials and several electoral officers before the courts.
The former Georgetown Mayor said, “… And if, as I told one of the groups I met [Friday] morning, if they say he rigged elections, I say we should keep rigging to save us from these devils, these bastards, these demons that we have.”
Asked if he agrees with the comment made by 89-year-old Green, Norton, during a press conference on Thursday said that the party stalwart “was taken out of context”.
“Well, when I pay attention to a statement, I try to pay careful attention to the details. When I listen to what Hamilton Green said, he said, ‘if they say, the PNC is ready’. Now, it is carried by the press, they would have left out ‘if’. And so, they changed the context. I think what Green was saying was: you’re saying we are rigging [so) if we are rigging, then we should rig to change the government. The point I’m making here is that the context was changed,” Norton said.
The PNCR leader then went on to speak about Green’s competence as an exceptional speaker.
“Hamilton Green is probably the longest existing politician in this country. Hamilton has an ability to choose the language, and he has shown over the years that his choice of language has been exceptional. But I think Green was taken out of context,” Norton said.
Opposition Member of Parliament and PNCR Member, Ganesh Mahipaul also commented on the issue after reading it on an online news agency.
“I personally was taken aback. As a PNCR member and a central executive member, but I did not just hold to that article. I wanted assurance. So, what I did was to go back to the video recording. I listened to what was said, and what I heard versus what I read is confirmation that [name of agency’s editor-in-chief], in my view, completely took Mr Hamilton Green’s words out of context.”
