Coalition defends President Granger’s appointments of three ministers

Mar 12, 2017 News

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A March 4 piece by Kaieteur News columnist Freddie Kissoon titled “An action of President

Granger that went unnoticed” on the process used to appoint three ministers has sparked a swift response by the two factions of Government.
Both are insisting that the proper procedures were followed and that the coalition remains as strong as ever.
Yesterday, the Alliance For Change (AFC), the smaller faction, said it is joining A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) in refuting the assertions made by Kissoon.
Kissoon, in his column, said he listened to a tape recording of AFC Leader, Raphael Trotman, made two weeks ago, who reportedly said that outside of ministerial entitlements carved out in the Cummingsburg Accord, President David Granger had, following the May 2015 General Election, appointed three ministers on his own.
Kissoon claimed that Trotman, during the press conference, named the three ministers as himself, Agriculture Minister Noel Holder and Business Minister, Dominic Gaskin. The last happens to be the President’s son-in-law.
“I have no problem with the President choosing his son-in-law to be a Minister. But I honestly feel that it would have been a torrid topic of conversation if a PPP President had done the same. And I do believe there is legitimate reason to ask President Granger that seeing that it was his son-in-law, if it would not have been more

plausible and elegant politics for the AFC to do the selection rather than the President himself,” Kissoon wrote.
The columnist noted that the Cummingsburg Accord, which dictates how the coalition partners operate as a government, assigned forty percent of the Cabinet to AFC and sixty to APNU.
“Did that happen? Does the AFC have forty percent? And this cannot include the three Mr. Granger chose because at the press conference, Mr. Trotman did say that the President made those choices outside of the stipulations of the Accord.”
AFC recommended
However, AFC insisted yesterday that its previous leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, who is the current Minister of Public Security, had submitted recommendations to President Granger and was consulted on all appointments to Cabinet which were assigned to the AFC as per the Cummingsburg Accord.
“Further Mr. Ramjattan consulted with the leadership of the AFC on all of the party’s ministerial appointments throughout the process,” AFC stressed.
The party said it recognizes that it is the responsibility and prerogative of the President to

appoint all ministers. However President Granger acted and continues to act in good faith with regard to the initial appointments and the subsequent adjustments and changes which were effected.
“There is a deep level of mutual respect and there exists an overall level of satisfactory engagement, consultation, cooperation and inclusivity within the coalition and the Cabinet as it relates to matters relating of the management of the nation’s affairs,” AFC said it its statement.
The party said it is proud of its leaders who currently serve in Cabinet and who work, on a day-to-day basis with our APNU coalition colleagues to achieve the good life for all Guyanese.
“The AFC echoes President Granger’s recent statement that the Coalition remains strong and cohesive and committed to working in the best interest of the Guyanese people.”
Early last week, APNU had responded, too, to Kissoon’s piece.
Minister of State and General Secretary of APNU, Hon. Joseph Harmon refuted claims made by Kaieteur News Columnist, Mr. Freddie Kissoon that the Head of State acted in contravention of the Cummingsburg Accord by arbitrarily appointing three Ministers of Government.
Harmon noted, “All appointments of ministers are made by the President. A Minister’s job is to assist the President in the function of his office in a particular ministry. So all Ministers, their job is to carry out some of the duties that belong to the President so it is the President’s responsibility to appoint Ministers.”
Harmon said. “The President did not act on his own so any attempt to assign a label to His Excellency in the performance of his duties is malicious. Mr. Kissoon should clearly speak to those Ministers that he referred to in his article

and find out from them what the true facts are.”
The minister noted that in his article, Kissoon said that if the President appointed three Ministers in the persons of Trotman, Holder and Gaskin, then it is highly unlikely that the 60-40 ratio in assigning ministries was adhered to as stipulated in the Cummingsburg Accord. “Minister Harmon said that indeed the historic accord provided for certain ministries to be assigned to A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and some to the Alliance for Change (AFC). He went on to explain that in keeping with that arrangement, the AFC was assigned the Ministry of Agriculture for which Mr. Noel Holder was nominated for the position. Similarly, Mr. Dominic Gaskin, an executive member of the AFC, was recommended by his party to head the Ministry of Business which was called the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Commerce under the previous administration.”
Granger always consults
The minister stressed that President Granger depends on recommendations and consultations. He does not sit down all by himself in some room and make decisions.
“He consults with his Cabinet and even after that he takes further consultations from persons who might have a specific interest in an issue so the President is about consultation. He insists on that in this Government, that we must always consult and so this article which seeks to say that the President, on his own, picked these three ministers and gave them those Ministries is malicious,” the Minister of State said.
With regard to Mr. Trotman’s appointment, Minister Harmon clarified that he was left unassigned after the AFC was allocated its full quota of ministries.
“…However, based on the recommendation of the party’s then leadership, President Granger appointed Mr. Trotman as the Minister of Governance within the Ministry of the Presidency. All of these recommendations were made by the AFC.”
The Minister also condemned Kissoon’s attempt to convey the impression that there was some nepotism at play with the Head of State’s appointment of Mr. Gaskin, who is his son-in-law.
“Minister Gaskin is an executive member of the AFC; he was the treasurer of the AFC when we went into elections; he was always a high-ranking member of that party, so it has nothing to do with him being the son-in-law of the President.
“This is a very subtle attempt to put a label of nepotism unto the President and we must roundly reject it, that’s my position,” Minister Harmon said.
Yesterday, however, Kissoon when contacted asserted that there is a level of dishonesty in both the AFC’s and APNU’s reaction to his column.
“First, on Saturday, March 11, the AFC responded to my March 4 article but chose to ignore my March 11 column which openly challenges APNU to refute what Minister Trotman said. It meant the AFC chose to ignore the contents of my March 11 commentary which goes far beyond what I wrote in my March piece. In all their outbursts, the AFC and APNU are ignoring the fact that I merely repeated what Minister Trotman said and that was the President created three ministers on his own, one of which is the President’s son-in-law. The tape of the AFC press conference is available and the Guyanese people should demand an honest acknowledgement of what Minister Trotman pronounced on.”

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