Georgetown – Veteran politician Mervyn Williams stunned viewers on Sunday when he used his own programme, Nation Watch, to announce that he was resigning from the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) after more than 40 years with the party.
Williams, who served twice as a parliamentarian and also as a Region Three councillor, made the declaration moments after wrapping up an interview with A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) lead parliamentary representative, Dr Terrence Campbell.
With visible emotion, he told the audience he was leaving both the PNCR’s Central Executive Committee and the party itself. Williams had secured the second-highest number of votes in the party’s most recent internal elections, less than two years ago.
“It is even with a heavier heart that I say to you… my resignation from the People’s National Congress Reform,” he said, adding that the decision was a “difficult” one. He explained that he had contemplated stepping aside prior to September 1 but delayed out of loyalty. He said “unfortunate occurrences,” one of which predated September 1 but only came to his attention recently, pushed him to act.
Williams described his exit as part of recognizing the PNCR’s need for “a rebuilding process.” Following the broadcast, Nation Watch was removed from the party’s and APNU’s Facebook and social media platforms.
Neither the PNCR nor APNU has commented on the resignation.
Williams, the second Indigenous Amerindian Guyanese elected to the PNCR’s Central Executive after Dr George Norton, also held the role of Shadow Agriculture Minister during his career and was a senior figure in several levels of the party’s leadership.
