SOFT-SPOKEN Paul Burke has, for many years, been an effective debater and apologist for the People's National Party (PNP), sometimes giving the impression that he supports an opponent's point of view, but in the end, circling back to embrace PNP core values. He has now officially launched a policy forum named Region Seven, and announced his intention to stand for president of the PNP although he eschews any ambition of replacing Mr. Patterson when he retires from the political arena.
Mr. Burke's statement at the opening ceremony of Region Seven, which was attended by Paul Robertson, a PNP vice-president, that "We do not have an ulterior motive or hidden agenda", might be construed by some sceptics to be somewhat defensive. The structure and aims of Group Seven are still amorphous, but there seems to be a philosophic commitment to strengthening the party as the prime force to accomplish in the PNP agenda, independent of official Government policy, when the PNP forms the administration.
This has been coupled with a specific call for term limits and direct election of party officials, rather than election by way of delegates. At this stage, Group Seven seems to be walking a fine line between formal affiliation with the PNP and emerging as an independent think-tank sympathetic to PNP ideology, but not a servant of it.
Some of Mr. Burke's ideas could very well have merit, and may inject new thinking into the stalled debate about constitutional reform. On the other hand, there could be understandable concern, that too much emphasis on Party, as opposed to Government, may be a move in the wrong direction. Party dominance does not appear to be a prominent feature of democratic regimes.
In Russia, China and Cuba, the party apparatchiks wield enormous power, and in effect stifle all dissent. We are not imputing motives to Mr. Burke. He says he has no ulterior motives and we are happy to give him the benefit of any doubts which his initiative may have caused. Something important could well be afoot, and we will be keeping a close eye on Region Seven as it fleshes out its policies.
