Despite a high-level meeting, the feud in APNU+AFC over who will be the Leader of the Opposition rumbled on yesterday with former President David Granger insisting that he should remain the Representative of the List and retain the power to decide the parliamentary lineup.
At a scheduled meeting of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) today, Granger is likely to come face to face with PNCR Leader, Aubrey Norton whose party has been pressing for him to replace Joseph Harmon in Parliament as Leader of the Opposition.
Despite having been elected overwhelmingly as leader of the PNCR – the major component of APNU – Norton has been thwarted in his ambitions to be Opposition Leader by Granger, the immediate past PNCR Leader and Harmon.
Talks yesterday between Granger and coalition partner, Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader Khemraj Ramjattan ended yesterday with Granger informing that he will relinquish the post of Chairman of the APNU but not as Representative of the List of the APNU+AFC.
“In essence, he said that he will be relinquishing the Chairmanship of APNU but not the Representative of the List because the agreement of the parties is that they have confidence in him to serve for the full five years,” a source told Stabroek News.
Relinquishing the chairmanship of APNU is minor in the context of what is at stake for Norton and the PNCR, sources note.
Granger will this morning meet with APNU and deliver the same message.
He is likely to face off with Norton who will represent the PNCR at the meeting of parties making up APNU.
Sources told this newspaper that Granger made a case yesterday to the representatives of the AFC for holding on to the position of Representative of the List by saying that he believes in holding true to agreements and that the coalition’s supporters would not want him deviating from that. This argument has been ridiculed by observers as for all intents and purposes the PNCR is APNU and Norton was elected at the PNCR’s December Congress with a big majority, defeating Harmon by a wide margin. Granger did not seek re-election at the Congress.
The source said Granger wanted to discuss yesterday the Cummingsburg Accord – which created the partnership between APNU and AFC that catapulted it to victory at the 2015 general elections. The Accord comes up for review in December of this year.
The AFC, however, does not think it is in the best interest of the partnership with APNU to discuss the Accord without the PNCR’s new leader present as it is he who will lead discussions during the next review.
Sources say that Granger had four topics on yesterday’s agenda but not all of the items were covered.
Following the meeting, a joint statement from the two parties gave no insight into the talks but said they were fruitful.
“The Chairman of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Leader of Alliance For Change (AFC) with members of their Executive met this morning to discuss matters of current interest. Attending the high level meeting were Former President and Chairman of APNU, David Granger; Leader of the AFC Khemraj Ramjattan M.P.; Leader of the Opposition Joseph Harmon M.P.; Chairman of the AFC Raphael Trotman M.P; Vice Chair of the AFC Catherine Hughes M.P.; and General Secretary of the AFC David Patterson M.P. These talks were fruitful and engagements will continue,” the statement said.
Granger helped pave the way for Harmon to assume the post of Opposition Leader after the coalition’s defeat at the 2020 polls and appears intent to continue supporting him in that position.
With Norton securing a landslide victory over Harmon in the race for the PNCR leadership last month, Granger and Harmon have been faced with calls for Norton to be named a Member of Parliament and to be elected Opposition Leader. Harmon would either need to step down or be voted out by a majority of opposition parliamentarians. As long as Granger is Representative of the List his imprimatur would be needed for any changes to the coalition’s slate.
Norton has remained tightlipped on talks between himself and Granger and Harmon.
At a PNCR press conference on Friday, 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.
The ongoing feud is seen as debilitating to the PNCR when it and its partners in APNU+AFC have been grappling with allegations that they had been the intended beneficiaries of the attempt to rig the 2020 general elections.
