WPA Executive Dr David Hinds is standing by his criticism that opposition coalition APNU failed to pursue a unity government over the last year.
In a statement issued yesterday, Hinds said his criticism of the coalition during an appearance on talk show Plain Talk, which was aired last Sunday, has produced “some degree of unease” among the APNU faithful.
“The big problem for some APNU people is my allocation of a failing grade to the coalition while giving the AFC a passing grade,” said Hinds, who is an APNU member by virtue of the WPA’s membership in the coalition.
He, however, suggested that “in the usual haste to pronounce on my comments,” some commentators missed what the grades were allocated for.
“I have read comments to the effect that I gave the APNU’s parliamentary work an F grade. Not true. While I alluded to the coalition’s ineffective use of its parliamentary clout as a bargaining tool, the F grade was given specifically for the APNU’s failure to pursue its platform promise to work for a Government of National Unity and not for its overall parliamentary work,” he explained.
By the same token, Hinds added, the passing grade given to the AFC was for more effectively pursuing its platform promises.
“Let me reiterate what I have said publicly before. I commend the APNU and the AFC for using their parliamentary majority to improve parliamentary oversight of the executive. But I continue to believe that those who voted (the majority of voters) for these two parties did not vote just for parliamentary oversight of the executive branch of government. More importantly, they, particularly those who voted for the APNU, voted for an end to One-Party Government. This is what was put to them by the APNU and they endorsed it with their energies, passion and votes. That the APNU, after a year, has not taken up this cause either in parliament or outside of it is more than a minor mistake,” he further said.
APNU is the main opposition party in the National Assembly.
