Roberts elected to lead NUF

By Linda Straker

A woman was elected to lead Grenada’s newest political party when its members held its first convention on Sunday.

Glynis Roberts was elected by delegates to become the leader of the National United Front (NUF) – a political organisation comprising a number of persons who were expelled as well as persons who resigned from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) following the September 30th annual convention.

Roberts, from all research, is the first woman to be elected as a political leader in the country and is one of two women on the NUF executive. The other executive members are Chairman Siddiqui Sylvester, Deputy Chairman Jerome Joseph, Deputy Leader Ferron Lowe, General Secretary Winston Thomas, Public Relations Officer Valon Paul, Recording Secretary Jomi Thomas and Treasurer Manley Phillip. The Assistant General Secretaries are Peter Spencer and Terrence Benjamin and the Assistant Treasurer is Esther Frank.

The convention was used to unveil the party’s new symbol of the family. Initially, the members had presented the Sun as its symbol only to be challenged by another political entity that has registered the Sun with the Parliamentary Election Office. The party’s colours continue to be blue and orange.

In her inaugural address as leader, Roberts, who represented the constituency of St. George South as a member of the NDC following the 2003 and 2008 elections, said that she is confident in the future of the political organisation and its plans to eventually govern the affairs of the country.

Presenting the party’s nine-point plan for economic recovery and development, Roberts, who is a former Minister for Tourism, said that the core focus of the NUF will be the areas of Economics, Agriculture, Health, Education, Tourism, Social Development, Labour, Culture and Environment.

“With this as our agenda, we can have economic transformation to the benefit of all,” she said.

Roberts said that her party and the members are not a breakaway faction from the NDC, but a grouping of persons who saw the need to present a real alternative. “There comes a time in a country’s history when the old must be done away with,” she said.

The NUF said that it will be contesting three constituencies in the February 19, 2013 general elections.

Party Chairman Sylvester said that NUF will presently not be in a position to govern the country, but its objective for contesting the various seats is to get into parliament. “We want to see members of NUF in the Parliament come February. We want to ensure the membership of NUF is represented in the Parliament. Let us work towards the objectives,” he told the less than 200 supporters who had packed the Calliste Government School.

The feature speaker at the convention was Guyana’s Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee.