According to its General Secretary, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is investigating why an agreement between it and the Alliance for Change (AFC) fell apart during the Election of Chair and Vice Chair of two Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs).
“There was an agreement between the APNU and AFC about the Chair and Vice Chair. The situation which arose at the elections is under investigation,” General Secretary Joseph Harmon said when contacted by Stabroek News for comment. He declined to explain the nature of the agreement.
Stabroek News understands that as part of the revised Cummingsburg Accord, the two members of the Coalition agreed that a member of the APNU would Chair any RDC won following the May 2 Regional Elections. A member of the AFC was to be elected Vice Chair.
However, while this was operationalized in Region Seven it was ignored in Regions Four and 10.
The APNU+AFC holds eight of the 15 seats at the Region Seven RDC, 15 of the 18 seats in Region 10 and 20 of the 35 seats in Region Four.
In Region Four the two parties supported APNU nominee Daniel Seeram for the post of Chairman but they did not appear to be on the same page when each nominated candidates for the post of Vice-Chairman.
The 15 APNU candidates, including new Chairman Seeram, who cast the deciding vote, supported their own candidate over the AFC nominee at the meeting held at the Bladen Hall School on the East Coast.
In Region 10, AFC nominee for Vice Chair, Norris King declined the nomination after being informed by the PNCR that it would not support him.
“It is an 18-member council with five AFC candidates and 10 APNU candidates. I heard about three days before the elections that APNU would not hold true to the agreement and took it as persons trying to be mischievous but on the day I learnt from a very senior member of the PNCR that I would not have their support,” he told Stabroek News last evening.
Asked to identify the “senior member”, King said it was party General Secretary Amna Ally. Ally who was present at the Region 10 election is said to have influenced her party members to vote for a PNCR candidate as Vice Chair.
King explained that after being told by Ally that he would not receive the party’s support he chose to decline the nomination and step back rather than create conflict.
He described the reaction of his party to the development as “shocked”.
“You can see the reaction in the resignation of the General Secretary [David Patterson]. Patterson was responsible for brokering the agreement and I respect his decision to accept responsibility for its failure and to resign. A GS is like a company CEO ultimately the buck stops at him,” King said while lamenting the decision of the PNCR to “defy” an agreement signed by Party Leader David Granger.
“They agreed to sharing. It’s shameful that he [Patterson] brokered the agreement in good faith expecting them to honour it and they didn’t,” King said.
Stabroek News has been unable for the second day to make contact with Patterson however in a September 28, 2020 letter, seen by this newspaper, Patterson wrote Party Leader Khemraj Ramjattan and informed him that it had been an honour to serve in the capacity as General Secretary but he would be submitting his resignation with immediate effect.
“Please note that I remain a member of the AFC, a party which I love and consider to be the best option for the future of Guyana. I will be maintaining my membership in full and will continue to participate in party activities, albeit in a different capacity,” Patterson concluded.
The letter was copied to the party chair, vice chair and management Committee.
Efforts to reach Ramjattan as well as Executive Members Catherine Hughes and Raphael Trotman also proved futile.
