Leadership Challenge - My plans for taking the Party Forward, From Unity to Victory!

My plans for taking the Party forward, from Unity to Victory!

My intention is to be a ‘care-taker leader’ for one year in order to unite the Party and create an atmosphere of reconciliation together with much needed reform. There has been so much bitterness and fragmentation that we have all but lost our sense of direction. A good many valuable nationalists are feeling hurt and disillusioned. It’s vital that we restore morale and begin building ourselves up again- fast!

The problems that have led to all this strife have arisen from what are perceived as poor management decisions, unnecessary and confrontational law suits, and lack of democratic consultation. I would address these issues by bringing in the following measures:

Enlarging the Advisory Council, which would consist of 3 serving councillors elected to by their fellow councillors, all Regional Organisers and leading employed Party Officers.

The Advisory Council would democratically select 6 of its members to sit in a Cabinet, consisting of these 6 members as well as the Chairman. The Chairman would have the casting vote. The Cabinet would decide on policy, in close consultation with the Advisory Council. This would mean in practice that the Chairman could not act without the approval of the Cabinet. The Cabinet needs to be small, no more than 7 members in total order to make quick and effective decisions. Each Cabinet member would only be eligible to stand for a year at a time and for no more than a total of 4 years continuously. This would make Cabinet members individually and practically accountable to the Advisory Council. The Chairman would not have the power to sack the Cabinet. Only the Advisory Council could de-select a Cabinet member by a majority vote with good reason. The Chairman could not be dismissed by either the Cabinet or the Advisory Council, but only by the membership of the party through a democratic leadership election process.

The Chairman would have the right to choose their Deputy Chairman who would be one of the 6 Cabinet members.

Regional Organisers would have to be elected by the voting members of their region. All Regional Organisers and Sub-Regional Organisers would be given a salary and expenses.

Finance:

A body of 3 or 4 independent auditors, not connected with the Advisory Council or the Cabinet, or any other paid post within the Party, would have full scrutiny of the accounts down to all expenditure in the sum of £500 or more.

The management centre in Northern Ireland should be relocated to the mainland, along with the staff.

The Party Fundraiser would be on a fixed salary, with a productivity based commission.

Also, every key officer from Sub-Regional Organisers upwards, would need to take a polygraph test to weed out infiltrators.

Recently, the emphasis has been on making money for simply for making money, rather than raising money for the use in our prime purpose, ie winning elections. If we get the number of members up, the money will automatically follow. So our overriding priority needs to be to get back on the streets.

If you think all these measures would fundamentally improve our Party- then I’m the man for the job!