Governing coalition partners APNU and the AFC have agreed that their ground-breaking Cummingsburg Accord should be revised and this process could be completed within four weeks of the most recent meeting.
A statement yesterday from the Alliance For Change (AFC) said that both sides have nominated teams. The AFC is led by the General Secretary David Patterson and includes National Executive members Dominic Gaskin and Dr. Vincent Adams. The A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) team is led by their General Secretary Joseph Harmon.
The AFC statement noted that it held its quarterly National Executive Committee (NEC) Meeting on August 10, 2019 at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre, Liliendaal.
It said that several critical matters were discussed including the Party’s preparation for the upcoming General and Regional Elections (GRE) and the historic Cummingsburg Accord which precipitated the AFC’s entry into government in 2015 with APNU led by President David Granger.
The AFC noted that the existing accord remains in effect, until its life expires or it is amended by mutual agreement.
“The AFC remains fully committed to coalition politics in the national interest. Coalition politics in this regard reinforces our core belief of a functional multi-ethnic, ‘multi-viewic’ society to unleash the energies of all our people regardless of race, class, religion or gender enabling all Guyanese to enjoy their fullest potential”, the AFC said.
It added that a review of the Cummingsburg Accord has engaged the Party’s full attention since 2017. More recently the Party met jointly with its Coalition partner and broached a path forward in view of the GRE.
“There is broad agreement between the two parties that the existing Accord can be amended for better alignment with the Constitution and can accommodate additional guiding principles that may previously have been omitted”, the AFC added.
It said that it was also agreed by the two parties that a revised Accord would be more desirable than drafting a completely new Accord at this stage.
“There was consensus that the finalized Accord would be agreed within four weeks of the most recent meeting”, the AFC said.
The AFC’s February 14, 2015 accord with APNU was seen as the key factor in the defeat of the PPP/C at the May, 2015 general elections. However, political analysts say that the hardliners within APNU – particularly its main component – the PNCR felt that AFC had gotten disproportionately high benefits from the Accord and that this had to be reeled in.
The key features of the Accord were that the AFC would have the prime ministerial position in the government and 12 seats in Parliament. The AFC had also been unhappy with the allocation of seats to it at the historic 2016 local government elections and had pressed at various points for an adjustment in this area. Matters came to a head at the 2018 local government elections when APNU threw down the gauntlet and had the AFC contest the polls on its own in an apparent bid to have it show its real worth.
In a move that analysts says the coalition and APNU will rue in the future, the AFC’s showing was poor and the three-way contest in key local government areas saw a significant swing towards the opposition PPP/C particularly in Georgetown.
Matters took a turn for the worse in the coalition when APNU+AFC MP Charrandass Persaud who represented the AFC wing surprisingly voted for a PPP/C motion of no confidence on December 21, 2018 triggering six months of legal challenges that culminated on June 18 with the Caribbean Court of Justice ruling that the motion had succeeded and the government had fallen.
This result, sources say has led to more bitterness in APNU/PNCR towards the AFC. The AFC itself has seen bitter internal wrangling over who should hold the prime ministerial position at the next elections. Sources say that sentiment in APNU/PNCR was strongly in favour of incumbent Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo retaining the position but he was ousted by AFC Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan.
Source say that the most delicate part of the upcoming talks would be a strong view in some parts of APNU and the PNCR that the AFC should not retain the right to name a prime ministerial candidate given its showing at the 2018 local government elections and the view that the PPP/C has clawed back the support that the AFC had brought to the coalition in 2015. There is a view in the ranks of APNU and the PNCR that the coalition’s best chance at the upcoming election would be a ticket with a prime ministerial candidate who can attract non-traditional PNCR supporters and independents. The number of seats in Parliament assigned to the AFC is also likely to be an issue on the table.
Several weeks ago PNCR Chairperson, Volda Lawrence said there had been no agreement on the prime ministerial candidate.
“The party welcomes the fact that the AFC party was able to have their conference and elect their new candidate for the prime ministerial position. The party or the coalition and the AFC have not reached that stage in terms of discussions on prime ministerial candidate,” she told a press conference.
