Mitchell – Take care of Lynch, do leadership poll

Take care of E.G. Lynch and conduct a poll.

This is what founder of the New Democratic Party (NDP) Sir James Mitchell thinks party president Arnhim Eustace should do with money recently donated to the party.{{more}}

Approximately two weeks ago, Sir James handed over US$20,000, to Eustace, on behalf of a donor, a usually reliable source told SEARCHLIGHT.

In the letter that accompanied the cheque, Sir James, this country’s prime minister from 1984 to 2000, told Eustace that he should consider using the money to give assistance to former NDP spokesperson Elwardo G. Lynch and to conduct a poll on the popularity of the NDP and its leadership.

E.G. Lynch, who was the host of the NDP’s interactive radio programme New Times for over 10 years, is in poor health after suffering a series of strokes. Now 70 years old, Lynch is a patient at a nursing home.

In November 2013, Eustace, in an open letter, accused Mitchell of being an acolyte of the ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP), following criticisms made by Mitchell about the NDP and its annual convention. Mitchell told SEARCHLIGHT in an interview then, that while he accepted that his public bickering with Eustace hurts the party, it grieves him when his party does not accept his advice. He is also peeved by what he views as the ingratitude shown to him and other members of the NDP by some members of the present executive.

“It is all very well to be charging along with your party position, but you have to every now and again check to see how the public opinion is going and I know that the ULP is doing polls from time to time and we are not,” Mitchell also stated in that November 2013 interview.

The party founder questioned who are the strategists of the NDP, saying in his time, there were two strategists, he and Parnell Campbell QC.

“I don’t know who they have there now…”