“We believe in coalition politics”

…Granger says in response to possible AFC’s breakaway

Chairman of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), President David Granger has downplayed the Alliance For Change’s (AFC) announcement that it is contemplating breaking away from the governing coalition to compete in the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE).
However, General Secretary of the People’s National Congress (PNC), the leading party in the APNU coalition, Amna Ally, has made a contrary statement explaining that the APNU is prepared to contest the LGE without the AFC teaming up to contest with one ticket.

Granger, who heads both the PNC and the APNU coalition of parties, brushed aside news that the AFC appeared prepared to run its own campaign at the local elections while running against his coalition. “I have seen reports that the AFC is contemplating the prospects of going it alone. When I get that letter if it ever comes, I will meet with AFC leader,” the President remarked.
He continued, “We went into the coalition as a matter of principle and we believe that it good for Guyana. We believe that we have been able to introduce a new form of political cooperation based on inclusionary democracy and we can’t walk away from that at this point in time.”
The President also ditched questions as to whether he would be concerned were the AFC to abandon the coalition to run alone as he reiterated the PNCR-led APNU’s commitment to coalition politics.
“As far as the five-party partnership (APNU) is concerned, we shall go into the Local Government Elections, and the General and Regional Elections as a partnership. And we believe in coalition politics, it’s not just for political expedience. It is something we believe in that Guyanese need to come together in order to resolve the problems or political division and economic development,” the President said.
Contradicting
On the other hand, however, Ally said she was disappointed with the statement made by the AFC which indicates that they may go it alone. She told the media on Wednesday, “Whichever way it goes, we are prepared to go with it. We are sorry that the AFC has taken such a position because like I said, we believe that we are better and stronger together. However, if that is how they feel, so be it.”
Only recently, the APNU issued a press release in response to AFC’s announcement stating that its parties have agreed to vie for local elections as a united body. The party said this commitment was reaffirmed at meetings in September 2017 and January 2018. The other APNU members are the Guyana Action Party, the Justice For All Party; the National Front Alliance and the Working People’s Alliance.
The APNU chair also reaffirmed this position on Wednesday when he told the media, “As I said we had two meetings at each level and we took a principled position and I don’t anticipate that will change.”
The Head of State also noted that based on media reports, some voices of the AFC have called for a review of the Cummingsburg Accord. He said whenever he gets a correspondence in that regard from the Leader of the AFC Raphael Trotman, he will respond to it. “I have not received any such letter yet.”
On Monday, the AFC announced that there is a possibility that the party may break away from the APNU for this year’s Local Government Elections. AFC Leader Raphael Trotman said there was “a strong opinion of body within the party that we should go alone.” However, in the same breath, he said there was another view that the AFC should seek to enter a new accord with the APNU.
The party leader explained that the Cummingsburg Accord that was signed between the AFC and APNU in 2015 was just to facilitate the General Election and did not include local elections.
The AFC has, of recent, come under fire for the perceived submissive role it played when it joined forces with APNU. In mid-November 2017, the top leadership of the AFC had decided to revise its governing agreement with its coalition partner. This decision was taken after the AFC – the smaller of the two groups forming the Government – was accused of being coerced by its large partner.