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ST GEORGE’S, Grenada -- It appears that Tillman Thomas will remain leader of Grenada’s National Democratic Congress (NDC) – at least until a general membership meeting of the party.

NDC Leader Tillman Thomas

The NDC, which had been in government since July 2008, suffered a humiliating 15 - 0 defeat by the New National Party (NNP) at general elections on February 19.

But NDC deputy chairman, Ken Joseph, said that Thomas’s leadership has not been an issue in post-election discussions held by the party’s executive.

“Nobody asked him (Thomas) about resigning and neither did he offer. No leadership question came up at the meetings,” Joseph is reported as saying in this week’s edition of Caribupdate Weekly.

According to Joseph, the atmosphere at the post-election meetings was “good,” although some members were “sad and confused on how the party could have lost 15 - 0” with a “good campaign, great candidates”, and a “better manifesto” to the NNP’s.

The paper said Joseph offered several reasons for the NDC’s election defeat, including the economy; insufficient election campaign funds; the disunity that had plagued the party; and the NNP’s appeal to “gullible youth”.

Joseph is quoted as saying that the NDC is now “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in debt, but it’s determined to rebuild and regroup.

“We should be able to mobilize as quickly as possible to give hope, direction and proper opposition, and to carefully look at how the country is governed,” he said.

“We feel very sure that within a year, people will be looking to us for guidance.”

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anthony:

i agree that bro tillman thomas should remain as leader for the time. infact ndc shouldn't rush to replace its current leaders, that should only come after a series of meetings with its supporters and members. bro tillman in many ways was probable the right prime minister at the time given the excesses of pm mitchell. however in my view bro tillman lacks the intellectual curiosity to lead and move the party forward. we should honor his service to country and party but the leadership train is heading down the tracks and the party must organize for that eventuality. for the party to move forward new leaders must be allowed to rise to the top as current leadership has failed in that respect. one thing thats crystal clear to me is that mr burke who was the biggest looser shouldn't be ever considered or worse be allowed to run the party. after all his self promotions he proved to be at best a leader with no ideas, know how or vision. the question must be asked mr burke had this brilliant but non existant reputation as an economist, where did that come from, was it because he had worked for mr coard during the revolution, meaning that the brilliance belongs not to him but to mr coard, who knew, now we all know given his dismal performance as fin/economy minister. meanwhile mr joseph must be careful not to blame the so call (gullible youths). people will always choose something over nothing. a person perceived to be a strong and decisive leader even if he/she is wrong on the issues will always win the day. despite the very important and notable progress made in education the young people either didn't see it or wasn't aware so they went for the pie in the sky even if it doesn't exist. so please don't blame the young people, try providing them with a plan to get out of poverty and dependency and they would have voted for ndc in vast numbers. that vote would be up for grabs sooner than we think so be prepared with a hopeful and clear message and we all would be feeling differently.