Better together

Feb 22, 2015 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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David Granger, Leader of APNU and Khemraj Ramjattan, Leader of the Alliance For Change made political history when they signed the Cummingsburg Accord on 14th February. This follows their parties’ decision to contest the forthcoming general and regional elections in May 2015 as a single coalition.
The Cummingsburg Accord binds their two parties – A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) – into the largest multi-party, pre-election coalition to have been formed in six decades of parliamentary democracy in Guyana. APNU had won 139,645 votes and was allotted 26 seats in the National Assembly, and the AFC won 35,406 votes and 7 seats, in the November 2011 elections. This left the PPPC on the government side in a minority with 32 seats and APNU and AFC on the opposition side with a majority of one seat in the Assembly.
The APNU-AFC Coalition combines the two parties’ massive electoral strength together with popular support for a ‘government of national unity’ to form the next executive. The Coalition partners aim at increasing the number of their parliamentary seats in order to introduce the type of governance which the regressive People’s Progressive Party Civic, PPPC, has blocked throughout the 10th parliament since January 2012.
The Coalition, therefore, presented a ten-point programme for democracy, development and national unity to the public. The programme – embodied in the ‘Cummingsburg Accord’ – concretises the inclusionary character of the policies of the two parties which have been collaborating throughout the 10th Parliament.
The APNU-AFC coalition pledged to lead Guyana forward into a new era of accountability, human safety, financial probity, governmental transparency, parliamentary democracy and national unity among other things. The Coalition will continue along the road to establishing a covenant among its citizens.
The Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana prescribes an ‘inclusionary democracy’:
The principal objective of the political system of the State is to establish an inclusionary democracy by providing increasing opportunities for the participation of citizens and their organisations in the management and decision-making processes of the State, with particular emphasis on those areas of decision-making that directly affect their wellbeing.
The Coalition intends to give real meaning to this constitutional injunction. It promised that, with the formation of a government of national unity, it would implement a programme of governance, the main elements of which will be:
– Constitutional reform: The introduction of a meaningful constitutional reform programme geared towards improved governance and fair representation;
– Economic development: The creation of a long-term economic development programme based on consultation and consensus and aimed at realising the vast potential of the country;
– Financial legislation: The passage of amended Anti Money-Laundering and Countering the financing of Terrorism legislation and the establishment of a Public Procurement Commission;
– Local democracy: The announcement of the date for the holding of local government elections;
– National unity: The introduction of a programme for healing, reconciliation and social integration;
– Taxation reform: The comprehensive review of current taxation policies, including the value-added tax;
– Telecommunications and information: The review, restructuring and liberalisation of the telecommunications and information sectors;
– Public security: The sustained improvement of crime prevention and the security environment;
– Public services: The reorganisation of the education, health, sports, recreation and other human service sectors;
– Youth Programme: The establishment of a comprehensive youth programme;
The APNU-AFC Coalition, in accordance with the Cummingsburg Accord, commits itself to accept and promote dialogue, discussion and the use of constitutional means to advance economic, political and social change; respect the value and sanctity of human life; maintain high levels of mutual respect; reject ethnicity as a consideration for the participation of citizens in government, denounce corruption and promote financial transparency, probity at all levels of government.
The Cummingsburg Accord is the best vehicle available yet for ensuring that inclusionary democracy becomes a reality in this country. The Coalition, more importantly, will rebuild trust in the National Assembly and rekindle the confidence of our citizens in governance after twenty-two years of deliberate damage to parliamentary democracy by the PPPC.
The Coalition’s presidential candidate David Granger described that the signing of the Cummingsburg Accord as a historic event that marks the start of real inclusionary democracy and the end of the “winner-takes-all” politics. Guyana will be a better place for having an APNU-AFC government of national unity.

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