Former President and current A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Chairman David Granger and Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader Khemraj Ramjattan are due to meet next Monday and sources say the issue of the main opposition coalition’s parliamentary list representative will be at the centre of the discussions.
“Mr. Granger write to the AFC Leader requesting a meeting and asked that he comes along with another person. Mr. Ramjattan has accepted. A three-person delegation will be meeting Mr. Granger and Mr. Harmon,” a source told Stabroek News.
It is unclear what issue Granger wants to discuss as he did not stipulate in correspondence to Ramjattan but the source said that it pertains to Granger’s position as Representative of the List for the APNU+AFC.
Granger, the immediate past leader of the PNCR, as Representative of the List for the coalition helped pave the way for Harmon to assume the post of Opposition Leader after the coalition’s defeat at the 2020 polls.
Granger did not contest the PNCR leadership and is currently not involved in the affairs of the party but is still the leader of the APNU and Harmon is the General Secretary.
With Aubrey Norton recently securing a landslide victory over Norton in the race for the PNCR leadership last month, Granger and Harmon have been faced with calls for him to be named a Member of Parliament and assume the role of Opposition Leader. Harmon would either need to step down or be voted out by a majority of opposition parliamentarians, while as long as Granger is Representative of the List his imprimatur would be needed for any changes to the coalition’s slate.
Up to yesterday, Norton remained tightlipped on talks between himself and Granger and Harmon.
At a PNCR press conference yesterday, Norton would only say that when the matter is resolved the press and public would be aware as he maintained that it was an internal matter and will be addressed internally.
Norton added that with pressing issues affecting “ordinary Guyanese,” he was disappointed that the press was more interested in the outcome of meetings on the parliamentary list and leadership.
Shortly after the PNCR press conference, Harmon’s office held its own briefing, where PNCR Chairperson Shurwayne Holder said that the issues will be resolved in the best interest of “the party and all stakeholders”.
He said that from talks so far between Harmon and Norton, “They agreed on certain principles, they agreed on certain things which are being discussed at the party level and at all levels and at the end, the general expectation is that we would have a decision that is favourable to the PNC and the entire coalition.”
The PNCR is the largest constituent of APNU.
Harmon had consistently claimed during his campaign bid to be PNCR Leader that the Leader of the PNCR should be the Leader of the Opposition.
As this newspaper recently reported, the initial engagement between Harmon and Norton ended in stalemate. One source said that Harmon “may consider resigning in a tradeoff where Norton still would not be Opposition Leader”. In that plan, according to the source, are “the machinations to frustrate and weaken Mr Norton because there is still one more Congress before the next General Elections and if he is weakened over this two-year period” he would be vulnerable.
Sources believe that Ramjattan may be elevated to the post of Representative of the List in an arrangement where Granger resigns from the post. However, assurances would be sought for Roysdale Forde and Harmon to be kept as parliamentarians for the remainder of the coalition’s term in the House.
AFC executives have already made it pellucid that party would not be “entangled” into the affairs of the PNCR and they would have to resolve their own issues.
