A founding member of political advocacy group ‘The Movement’ said she hopes to revamp and reenergise the group following her recent exit from the United Progressive Party.
Dr Cleon Athill said she does not intend to re-enter the political arena – citing differences between herself and the UPP’s leadership style – but will instead focus her attention on pertinent issues affecting the nation.
While The Movement does not describe itself as a political organisation and strives to make it clear it is non-partisan, most of its members are known opposition supporters and thus it is widely considered to be UPP-affiliated.
“We still meet every Friday night. Our numbers are down; in fact The Movement has been bleeding for quite a while, even before Covid, because a lot of people came into it thinking it was going to be the base for a political party, which is the UPP,” Dr Athill explained.
“But The Movement must remain true to its form, which is non-partisan, and a lot of people don’t appreciate that but we’re in the process of reviving and I know there are a lot of people out there who really do want a [lively NGO].”
She said there will be a meeting to discuss the group’s constitution and any inconsistencies in its remit.
“The reason why we put a constitution committee together is because we have a constitution and we also have by-laws and the by-laws were written under the [idea] of the [Companies] Act but the constitution was written under the Friendly Societies Act and there were a lot of inconsistencies between the two, so we are trying to align them,” Dr Athill added.
The Movement, which will celebrate its ninth anniversary in September, places the pursuit of good governance at the core of its work.