The PPP/C government yesterday announced the appointments of three advisors, including two leaders of parties that form the joinder list that won a parliamentary seat at the March 2 polls.
The Office of the President announced that Senior Counsel Ramkarran will be an advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on border matters, while Lenox Shuman will advise the Minister of Public Works on civil aviation. It also announced that Gerry Gouveia, who is the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Chairman, would serve as a national security advisor to the president.
Ramkarran is leader of A New United Guyana (ANUG), while Shuman is the leader of the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP). These two parties along with The New Movement (TNM) had entered a “joinder of lists” before the March 2 polls and it was able to secure a single seat in the 12th Parliament which they have agreed to share.
Ramkarran yesterday told Sunday Stabroek that his appointment as government advisor does not breach the terms of the agreement signed between his party and the two others which form the joinder list. “Our appointment is not a violation…we are not part of the government. The government is the Cabinet we are advisors,” he argued.
The pact signed by the parties provides that under no circumstances were they to join the government or the party that obtains the plurality of the majority for the purpose of obtaining ministerial or other governmental office. The agreement also noted that they were not to join the government to give a minority government a majority.
In responding to questions from Sunday Stabroek on whether the appointments breached their pact, Ramkarran maintained that the purpose of the joinder campaign was to prevent any party from gaining a majority in the National Assembly.
“Once there was a minority government we were not to join that government but that situation doesn’t arise here. The PPP has an absolute majority and that clause was meant for a situation where no party has an absolute majority,” he stressed, while adding that the joinder never said it will not support government.
He went on to note that not only does this appointment not in any way restrain him from sharing his frank views but the appointment is also a post he has held since 1994.
“I have been Guyana’s facilitator to the United Nations process headed by a Good Officer since 1994. There have been several Good Officers appointed by the Secretary General and I have been Guyana’s facilitator until the process ended in 2018,” he explained, before adding that he remained on the ministerial advisory board under the direction of then Foreign Secretary Carl Greenidge until a few weeks ago when the last administration left office.
Sunday Stabroek was unable to make contact with Shuman but Josh Khanhai of TNM supported Ramkarran’s argument.
According to Khanhai, his understanding of the appointments is that they are personal in nature.
“The appointment is for Lenox Shuman, not LJP, and for Ralph Ramkarran, not ANUG. They are the faces of their party but they are not the party,” he said.
He argued that this was a sign of the inclusiveness of the new government.
Asked if anyone from his party has been offered a similar position he said he was not aware of any such offer.
Khanhai went on to note that for him the post of advisor is not that of a “yes man” but rather to give advice based on experience and skillset.
