PNCR Leader Aubrey Norton has dismissed claims that Jermaine Figueira was pushed out of the party, saying bluntly that the former MP simply wasn’t up to the job.
Figueira, once considered a key figure in Region 10 and a public face of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), resigned last weekend in a move that caught many by surprise. But Norton isn’t losing sleep over it.
“We don’t consider him a heavyweight,” Norton said at a press conference on Friday. “The work that was required in Region 10 wasn’t being done.”
When pressed by reporters, Norton said Figueira’s removal as the party’s shadow Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport had nothing to do with internal politics or favoritism. “It had to do with competence or lack of it, not anything to do with [being] sidelined,” he said.
The comments came amid growing signs of unrest inside the PNCR. Figueira is one of several high-profile members to walk away in recent months, many pointing fingers at what they describe as a broken party culture and leadership that sidelines loyal members while promoting insiders.
In his resignation statement, Figueira didn’t hold back. He accused the party of tolerating “rising ethnic antagonism” and said the PNCR had strayed from its once-unifying vision. Behind closed doors, he claimed, it had descended into “sycophancy and vindictiveness.”
Despite the mounting criticism and a string of public fallouts, Norton insisted the party remains intact and will not suffer at the polls. With General and Regional Elections set for September 1, he brushed aside concerns of internal disarray.
But with former allies now turning into outspoken critics, the real question is whether the PNCR’s base will see this as housecleaning — or the beginning of a deeper fracture.
