…as Granger insists ‘I will choose PM candidate’
Leader of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) – the majority party in the coalition government, David Granger, has stated that he will be deciding on a Prime Ministerial (PM) candidate who can deliver the best results at March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections.
Over the past weeks, APNU and AFC have been reviewing the Cummingsburg Accord – the agreement they signed to coalesce for the 2015 elections, which eventually got them into office.
However, those talks have hit a snag when it comes to the selection of a prime ministerial candidate for the upcoming polls, with the APNU Leader insisting that he will be selecting his running mate.
“I am a prudent and wise leader and I will make the choice which I feel that will deliver the best results, the best outcome for the people of Guyana. My objective and I’m sure the objective of the six parties of the coalition, would be to ensure that Guyana gets the best and we’re working on that… I don’t want to lose. I want to make sure that we win and once we win, that the country is well-governed. So whoever the nominee is will be subject to scrutiny,” the President told reporters on Wednesday.
According to the coalescing deal, the APNU gets the Presidential post and the PM position goes to the AFC.
Limbo
However, while the Alliance for Change – the smaller party in the coalition – has already selected its leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, as its PM candidate, his nomination has not been accepted by the larger coalition partner.
“There is nothing in the Constitution which allows a political party to choose a prime ministerial candidate. Once the President is elected, the President has the authority under the Constitution to select a Prime Minister. Now we can have an agreement outside of the Constitution that the prime ministerial candidate or nominees for the Prime Ministership could be made and I would make the choice. That is why at this stage, I don’t want to become involved in personalities,” Granger stated.
However, Executive Member Dominic Gaskin said at a press conference last month that the APNU has shown little sign of support for Ramjattan’s nomination and threatened to leave the coalition. In fact, it was noted that during negotiations between the two parties to replace the existing agreement which expires in February 2020, the issue of the Presidential and prime ministerial candidates has been repeatedly deferred.
“This was a decision taken by the highest decision-making forum of our party and it is not up for debate; so it is almost a prerequisite for us entering into a coalition… We don’t accept that any other entity or any other party shall tell us or dictate to us (whom) we should choose as our prime ministerial candidate,” the former Business Minister insisted.
Moreover, the AFC had its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting last Saturday, during which guidance was provided to assist the party’s negotiating team in finalising an agreement on the outstanding issues in order to arrive at a successor Cummingsburg Accord.
The reviewing process between representatives from the APNU and AFC has reached an impasse and as such, the talks have been handed over to the leaders of the two parties.
This resulted in Granger and Ramjattan meeting last Thursday to continue discussions on areas that were unresolved by the negotiating team. The two leaders met again on Wednesday but according to the APNU leader, those talks will not centre on the PM candidature.
Efforts by Guyana Times International to get an update on Wednesday’s meeting between the two coalition leaders were futile.
Granger had previously explained that the negotiations are being done in a three-part process. The first stage includes an agreement on core principles, which has been completed; the second part has to do with the revision of the Accord and the third is an agreement on the manifesto policies for next year’s March elections.
“My thinking is once the core principle has been agreed, it will be easier to fit the elements that constitute the review of the Accord and at the third level… we move on to the manifesto. After that we can launch,” he stated.
The negotiations on the Cummingsburg Accord are expected to wrap up by December 1.
