The APNU+AFC will be outclassed in the National Assembly

Aug 18, 2020 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

It is perhaps too early and there is too little information available to pronounce precisely on what exactly is taking place within the PNC/R. When the dust settles on the fallout from the elections, a better assessment of the party’s internal dynamics can be made.
Yesterday, however, the PNC/R dropped a political bombshell. A number of its leaders are not going to be part of the next parliament and this includes most of the Executive of the party. This is unprecedented in the history of the PNC/R and can affect how the Opposition holds the government accountable.
Parliamentary participation is one means through which the Opposition can interrogate the government policies and demand answers to issues. And this is all the more reason why, in constituting the Opposition benches, it is important that the best group be assembled. It would be difficult to convince the party’s die-hard supporters that the group selected represent the best that the PNC/R and the AFC can muster.
As of now, the situation is befuddling. Why would so many of the top leaders of the party not be returning as parliamentarians? The PNC/R cannot hope to hold the PPP/C accountable with such inexperience.
The PPP/C will run roughshod over the newcomers. Even though the PPP/C itself has a number of newcomers, it now has the benefit of incumbency and with it all the data and information to outclass the APNU+AFC in the parliamentary debates.
The PPP/C is going to have it easy in the National Assembly. And it is likely also that the number of sittings is going to be far less and that some sittings will have to be virtual. The National Assembly will not escape the new reality imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
There must be something amiss within the PNC/R. While this may only be a preliminary observation, the party’s parliamentary choices are extremely surprising.
True to form, the PNC/R backpedalled slightly on its decision not to have cardboard parties represented on the APNU ticket. The APNU has dumped three of its coalition partners and mysteriously one of the biggest cardboard parties in the country, the Working People’s Alliance managed to scrape a seat.
The downgraded representation is all the more bizarre considering that the PPP/C has a slender one-seat majority. There is always going to be the chance of slipping-in a no-confidence motion against the PPP/C. But this task will be made all the more difficult if there are inexperienced persons on the Opposition benches.
The PPP/C’s injection of youth into its Cabinet must have been responsible for the dramatic turn of events in the APNU+AFC representation in the National Assembly. It is understandable that with the PPP/C presenting younger and fresher faces in government, and consequently in the National Assembly, that the Coalition would not have wanted to return with a team whose average age is as high as those who had made up the APNU+AFC Cabinet.
A youthful membership of the National Assembly is not necessarily a wise move unless there are seniors to mentor them. And since most of these seniors will not be returning, a situation can arise where a few members will have to shoulder much of the workload in the National Assembly.
The PNC/R is operating like a defeated and deflated force. It is sending a second-string team into the National Assembly. While some of the seasoned AFC leaders will be returning, the number of new faces places the APNU+AFC Coalition – or what is left of it – in a most disadvantaged position. It is difficult to see how some of the newer faces will fare when faced with the PPP/C during the forthcoming Budget debates.
Granger’s non-participation in the Assembly was expected. He is clearly paving the way for some other persons to eventually replace him and while he says that he will be active in rebuilding the party, his non-return to parliament is a choice, which ultimately sends him out to pasture.
But if his fading into the political sunset was not unexpected, what was extremely surprising was the non-return of some of the bigwigs in the party. Perhaps, they are shrunken by the loss of the elections and want a respite from political work.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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