AFC claims APNU Region Four Chairman is excluding its councillors

Aug 27, 2021 News

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– Failed in tabling motion to remove him

Kaieteur News – “We entered at the local government elections as a coalition and we won 20 seats and I still consider us as a coalition.”
This is a phrase pulled from a brief interview with Region Four Vice Chairman Samuel Sandy as Kaieteur News was seeking clarity on a motion tabled yesterday to remove him and Daniel Seeram, both members of a Partnership for National Unity (APNU) from the chairmanship position by two Alliance For Change (AFC) councillors.

The AFC councillors had reportedly failed in their bid to remove them after it was disallowed but intend on trying again at the next statutory meeting of Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region Four.
Despite the situation, Sandy said he still considers the APNU+AFC to be a coalition, AFC in a press release it sent out yesterday, explained the grounds of the motion and claimed that Seeram is excluding its representatives on the council in the management of the affairs of Region 4.
“The alienation and exclusion of the AFC and its representatives by the Chair is seen in that he currently holds Chairmanship of key committees including the Tourism Committee which to date has never met as well as the Drainage & Irrigation Committee”, stated the AFC.
According to the AFC, Seeram is currently the sole representative on the Sea Defence Board of the Ministry of Public Works, the National Drainage & Irrigation Authority (NDIA), the Board of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Covid Task Force within the Office of the Prime Minister.
This action, continued AFC, deviates from the historical norm of sharing these positions with other councillors and the spirit of partnership, which is fundamental to the APNU+AFC coalition.

Additionally, AFC stated that its councillors’ action to file a no-confidence motion against him and his vice-chair is a “direct response of continued failures and shortcomings in the management of the affairs of the people in this key geographical region”.
AFC believes that one of the reasons of these shortcomings is because of a decision to suspend Regional Administration of Committee meetings, without any word to councillors. This according to the AFC “has created chaos and information short flows frustrating the work of the council”.
The party noted too that the Personnel and Human Resources Management Committee has not met for over eight months and because of this, fourteen health care workers’ contracts were not renewed and two nurses were not being paid for several months.AFC claimed too that there is a deterioration of the relationship between Seeram and his vice chairman, Sandy on matters of principle, approach and operations; hence, it is proving to be a negative impact on the council’s ability to function.
One example that the AFC gave was a situation where several contractors were not paid for close to six months after Sandy, the head of the works committee failed to convene meetings and sign off requests in a timely manner.
AFC is of the view that their fundamental differences in approach and operations makes it difficult for the citizens of Region Four to receive optimal services and they must be solved urgently.
Meanwhile speaking with Kaieteur News last evening, Sandy said AFC’s bid to remove Seeram and him, yesterday was disallowed by him.
Sandy explained that Seeram is currently out of the country and he had to act in his capacity. He detailed that as the clerk was about to speak on the motion, he decided to stop him on grounds that no notice of a motion was submitted to the Chairman’s office.
According to standing orders that govern the Council, Sandy said that the Chairman should be given notice six days before it is tabled at the meeting. Copies of the motion, he related, would normally be submitted to the Chairman for him to review and if there are sufficient grounds then he will include it in the agenda of the meeting.
Asked why this standing order was not followed, Sandy said that clerk had received copies of the motion but had failed to hand them over.
AFC in its press release stated that it “had laid formal notices of no-confidence in the Chairman and Vice Chairman of Region Four to the Regional Executive Officer (REO) of the Region 4, Donald Gajraj.
Although the AFC councillors had disagreed with Sandy’s decision to disallow the motion, AFC stated that its councillors will remedy the defects and table the motions again at the next statutory meeting of the council.
It was reported in another section of the media that the motion was proposed by AFC councillor, Armarnauth Chinkan and seconded by his fellow AFC councillor Neilson McKenzie.
Out of the 20 seats that APNU+AFC holds in the Region Four RDC, AFC occupies six. It should be noted that this not first time there has been disagreement between AFC and APNU councillors.
In 2020, the accord between the two parties was breeched when Seeram and Sandy were elected as chair and vice-chair. According to the accord, the chairmanship position will be filled by an APNU member while AFC will fill the Vice Chairmanship position; however that vice-chairmanship position was taken away from the party after Sandy, another APNU member won the votes.

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