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Granger shuns AFC pro-democracy alliance proposal
Opposition Leader, David Granger, has said that while he has not received an official invitation, he is not
Opposition Leader, David Granger
interested in the pro-democracy alliance proposal by the Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan.
Ramjattan had made the announcement in an address to his party’s conference which was held at the St. Stanislaus College auditorium last Saturday.
“Hard decisions would have to be made, and indeed the AFC is ready to enter, if necessary, into negotiations and to lead a pro-democracy alliance of progressive forces comprising civic groups, workers’ unions, political forces…and by political forces here we are talking about even PPP members who have been disenchanted with the performance of the PPP thus far, and even APNU,” he said to a loud round of applause.
Granger was asked during his press conference, yesterday, whether he had started discussions with the AFC Leader on the said proposal. The Opposition Leader told the media that he has been in contact with the AFC and is expected to meet with the party within a few days time.
To the best of his knowledge, the politician said that Ramjattan is supposed to submit a proposal for discussion as well.
At the conclusion of the press briefing, Kaieteur News asked Granger for his opinion on the pro-democracy proposal and whether his meeting with AFC leader is an indication of his interest in joining the alliance.
“I am not interested in that alliance. I am interested in the APNU which is committed to forming a government of national unity and that is the pro=democracy front –APNU. We have invited AFC but they haven’t taken the bait for the last three years and we haven’t received that invitation formally,” Granger firmly stated.
APNU’s financial point man, Carl Greenidge, in a previous interview with this publication had said that Ramjattan’s initiative will pose some negotiating challenges.
Greenidge said that Ramjattan has, in the past, maintained that his party would not join the APNU whose major constituent is the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) that had governed Guyana from 1964 to 1992.
The politician had reminded that the AFC, which has been tapping into the traditional East Indian support-base of the governing People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), has in the past reasoned that it wanted to preserve its identity as an alternative to both major parties.
Ramjattan, he said, sought to justify the shift towards engaging APNU by arguing that there was need for collective patriotic action and cooperation of all Guyanese in undertaking the “herculean task” of voting out the ruling party.
But even with such an initiative, the former Finance Minister emphasized that the question of negotiation skills will again be an issue, if the proposal is to materialize and bear fruit.
It is on this premise that the Opposition leadership will be put to the test to demonstrate that it has the very negotiating skills which the PPP demonstrably lacks, he said.
Greenidge also said that the current administration will pose difficulties for the process of meaningful negotiations, as demonstrated before, on constitutional matters to say the least.
He added that engraved in the PPP government’s psyche is a cuss-out-and-mislead culture, hence its actions reflect scathing and damning acts of corruption, as opposed to those which show that it is interested in achieving some element of common goals by way of meaningful negotiations.
The Shadow Finance Minister opined that the PPP’s view is that it is dealing with political inferiors or election-losers rather than spokespersons. (Kiana Wilburg)
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