…Granger says ‘negotiations will not be marred by threats’
Leader of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), President David Granger on Wednesday said that ongoing negotiations to revise the Cummingsburg Accord should not be marred by deadlines or threats.
The Accord— the deal which the APNU signed with the Alliance for Change (AFC) to contest the 2015 General and Regional Elections— will expire next year. Hence, the two coalition partners have been in discussions for several weeks now to negotiate a revised agreement but have hit several snags along the way.
In fact, the AFC at a press conference last week said that if these talks are further delayed, then it will move ahead with launching the March 2, 2020 elections campaign on its own. A threat which did not sit lightly with the APNU leader.
Granger told reporters on the sidelines of an event at the Ministry of the Presidency on Wednesday that the agreement is determined by the negotiations, not by deadlines.
He reminded that these negotiations are being done in a four-stage process, which includes a set of core principles that have already been agreed upon by the two parties and should not be violated.
“The most important principle is that any agreement should be in accordance with the Constitution of Guyana. That is not subject to deadlines or threats. We will abide by the Constitution,” Granger contended.
He pointed out that for the whole of October and to date in November, the two coalition partners have been communicating, meeting and negotiating, and the question of a deadline imposed on these talks will not necessarily bring about the best outcome.
“I am very confident that were we to sit without noise, sit down soberly and quietly, we will arrive at an outcome which is the best for Guyana. From the onset, I’ve pointed out that we have a process. That process is based on principles and we should not allow the preoccupation of personalities to derail the importance of seeking an agreement based on principles,” the APNU leader posited.
Last week, the AFC said that they are in the process of ironing out ministerial allocations and parliamentary postings, which were supposed to be done at a meeting on Monday between the party’s PM candidate, Khemraj Ramjattan, and Granger.
After missing its November 10 deadline, the minority party had agreed to another meeting to finalise the single outstanding issue. It had noted that following that final meeting, it will launch its elections campaign beginning this Saturday.
But while Monday’s meeting was not held, Granger maintained that the agreement outlines that there should be a joint campaign.
“So I cannot understand why, in spite of that agreement, there should be an attempt to have separate campaigns. It’s one campaign. It’s one coalition, not two coalitions. We’re going into one government, not two governments. So I don’t understand who made that suggestion and why should it be made at this stage of the discussions or the negotiations,” he stressed.
Moreover, President Granger told reporters that the APNU held an Executive Committee meeting on Monday instead, where they came to “certain conclusions”. It was reported that APNU executives were not happy about the posture taken by its minority coalition partner.
Nevertheless, Granger indicated that he, along with PNC Chairperson Volda Lawrence, will be meeting the AFC team led by Ramjattan and accompanied by General Secretary David Patterson – which they refer to as the “High-Level Inter-party Committee” – sometime this afternoon (Thursday), where they are expected to deal with the distribution of postings.
According to the APNU Leader, he wants to form a new government and National Assembly that is “honest and efficient”.
“That is the aim of negotiations… We would all like negotiations to be concluded as early as possible but we’re seeking the best outcome for the people of Guyana. That’s my mission: to give Guyana a government which is honest and efficient,” he asserted.
The APNU/AFC coalition was toppled by a No-Confidence Motion (NCM) in December 2018 when AFC parliamentarian Charrandas Persaud crossed over and voted in favour of the Opposition-tabled motion.
This, coupled with the AFC’s poor performance at the November 2018 Local Government Elections (LGE), has not given the party much to take to the table with its coalition partner; hence, weeks of contentious negotiations to come up with a new agreement.
The 2015 Accord had catered for the APNU to get 60 per cent while the AFC gets 40 per cent of the allotments in the Ministerial, Parliamentary and Regional Democratic (RDC) postings. Currently, the AFC has the Ministries of Agriculture, Business (and Tourism), Natural Resources, Public Infrastructure, and Public Telecommunication as well as the Prime Ministerial post.
However, reports are that the AFC may not receive the same portions, having lost its advantage.
