APNU and AFC sign revised pact

Dec 25, 2019 News

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Alliance for Change (AFC) have now cemented their continued partnership as a coalition, with the signing of the revised Cummingsburg Accord yesterday at State House.

APNU, AFC Chairmen David Granger and Khemraj Ramjattan shake hands after signing the revised accord

The accord was signed by the Chairmen of both parties, David Granger and Khemraj Ramjattan, who currently serve as President and Minister of Public Security respectively. They were accompanied by the parties’ General Secretaries, Joseph Harmon and David Patterson, who signed as witnesses to the agreement.
A joint statement from APNU+AFC indicated that there appeared at the signing, representatives of all the parties that make up the APNU coalition, including Errol Ross of the Guyana Action Party (GAP), Keith Scott of the National Front Alliance, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), Chandra Narine Sharma and Jaipaul Sharma of Justice For All Party (JFAP)
The President reportedly said that the Accord was strengthened based on experiences garnered over the last four and a half years. Kaieteur News understands that the Alliance For Change has been forced to settle for 30 percent of the allotted seats, down from 40 percent it agreed to in the initial 2015 iteration of the Cummingsburg Accord, indicating that the AFC’s negotiating position was weakened, since the first signing.
The smaller party has reportedly secured Ramjattan’s place as the prime ministerial candidate, on the condition that if the President is absent, he would not accede to the Presidency.