MAR 06

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) says it will within a matter of weeks launch its own newspaper as a means of informing members and supporters of events within the party as well as to highlight its position on issues of national importance.

This was disclosed by the party's General Secretary Peter David who was re-elected unopposed at the 16th Annual Convention of the NDC. The Convention which was held under the theme "Building National Consensus on our Mission for Change" took place last Sunday at the Seamoon Cultural Center in St. Andrew's.

David, the Parliamentary Representative for the constituency of the Town of St. George was presenting his Report on the work of the party during the past year.

" I believe one of our serious problems is the lack of a party paper. I believe that any serious political party must have a political newspaper" he told the gathering.

" We must have an organ of the party, we must begin the publishing of a newspaper as an urgent task" David noted.
"There are many benefits of a party paper, information on groups, understanding what is happening in the various communities.

People also need to know what is the position of the party on issues" the General Secretary stressed. Speaking on the overall performance of the party last year, he believes that the "unity" that existed unity within the ranks was one of the main factors responsible for the party's success in last November's general elections.

After failing to secure a seat in the 1999 elections, the NDC under Opposition Leader Tillman Thomas rebounded in 2003, winning 7 of the 15 seats leaving Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell New National Party(NNP) holding on to a one seat majority in Parliament.

David is regarded as one of the persons instrumental in re-organising the party after its humiliating defeat. He pointed out that the reason NDC was able to regain strong footing was because political infighting has been absent from the party during the last three years.

"Our party was much more united in these last three years than at any time in its previous history" the party General Secretary noted. He pointed out that during the last three years NDC was fraught with all kinds of division, all kinds of factors, and all kinds of leadership struggle.

" For the last three years, it was very much a united party under the leadership of Tillman Thomas" the Parliamentary Representative for the Town of St. George noted.

According to David, a Barrister at-Law by profession many experts believe that in 1999 due to the disunity in the ranks of the party it had such a humiliating defeat at the polls.
"I think it was because of the unity of the party in the last general elections that was a significant factory in our success" he added.