COLA’s New President and Vice

Giovanni Brackett

On Saturday, a new president was elected for the Citizens Organized for Liberty through Action. The organization, which has about five hundred registered members, now has a new President and V.P. The AGM for COLA was held at The Bishop Sylvester Memorial Hall where incumbent President, Moses Sulph was unseated by Vice-President, Giovanni Brackett. The membership did not show up en masse, however Brackett says he takes up the mantle from a very effective out-going leader, who has paved the way for the work he will now assume.

Giovanni Brackett, President, COLA

“Definitely we’ve been able to serve well together. Moses has done an exceptional job taking a stand so much that he was politically victimized and terminated from his job. You have to respect a man who continues to take a stand even in the midst of that crisis. Today we had a vote and I offered myself for presidency and people voted for me and I don’t take that as an insult to anybody; to Moses—but it was a show of democracy and I will continue to work alongside Moses as a friend. One of the things that I’ve always said is that I really want to reengage both the older members and try to understand where are some of the weaknesses in COLA and look at our strengths and bridge those gaps. It’s all about strategy and I think we need to hit the ground—re-strategize and start to prioritize.”

Aaron Humes

“In the last year, COLA has taken on a number of issues; what do you say to those individuals who suggest that COLA has too many irons in the fire, so to speak?”

Giovanni Brackett

“Well I say look around, you don’t have that much organizations doing what we do—willing to take a stand. Some of those organizations that criticize us need to first look at themselves and do a post mortem of how they advocate and then look at us. The bible says that you need to first take the logwood out of your eyes before you take the speck out of somebody else. We have done our best with the little resources that have. We have sometimes spread ourselves thin but that is as a result of the mass array of issues that are out there. And so we will never get away from some of the tags that we attack a lot of issues.”

Karim Mawema

Karim Mawema, Vice President COLA

“As the new appointed and elected Vice President to be working along with Mister Brackett and others, I bring a sense of dealership to the point that we want to get our youths organized. We want to get people more actively involved in proactive activities within the community so as to build themselves. We want to be more upper self reliance society whereby we as an NGO will be able to do community projects that are beneficial not just to one section but a cross-section of people. So as the vice president I look forward to the challenges ahead. Believe me.”

One of the first priorities of COLA will be to engage its membership, which has been mostly dormant.