PNC/R wants Norton to replace Harmon as Opposition Leader

Jan 08, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – The People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) faction, of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) coalition, have decided that they want to be led in Parliament by their newly elected Party leader, Aubrey Norton, who will take the place of the current Opposition Leader, Joseph Harmon.

Leader of the PNCR, Aubrey Norton

Norton made the disclosure yesterday during a press engagement and was keen to note that even though the Party members have made their decision, he is yet to discuss the matter with Harmon on the way forward.
“The Party Central Executive (Committee) has decided that the Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Party should be one person… it is not that it is I who believe that, it is the Central Executive that met, discussed it and arrived at that conclusion.”
He said, “one of the arguments they made, is that it has been the convention in the Party and the second argument, is that it provides for better coordination and control of the activities of the Party and for better strategising to ensure efficacy.” In this regard, he said that a decision is likely to be made by mid next week.
According to him, the Leader of the Party and the representative of the list has been one or the same person, historically, but this had changed since the PNC joined the Coalition.
He noted that some compromises were made which allowed for the modification. Nonetheless, “at the last election, it was again placed back together and we have therefore returned to the tradition, which we believe, is in the best interest of the party and the country,” Norton pointed out.

With regard to pulling Harmon from Parliament, given that his title as Opposition Leader would be stripped, meaning a seat may not be available to him anymore, the Party leader cautioned, “I do not want to go out there and to say to the world, we would recall anybody.”
He explained saying, “just like how I said to you, the issue of the Leader of the Opposition was discussed at Central Executive, the Central Executive will in due time address all of these issues and when the decision is made, we will communicate it to you”.

Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon

Although he described himself as ‘competent’ enough to represent the voters in the National Assembly, Norton told reporters that he does not intend to be a “maximum leader” but a “servant type” one that allows all stakeholders involvement so as to reflect the “collective will.”
To this end, he related, “…to the extent that the Party has already said that I should be the leader of the Opposition, I think it follows ipso facto that I should be in the Parliament”.
In response to Norton’s statements, the Office of the Leader of the Opposition sent out a brief statement urging that the Party follow the established procedures.
It said, “The main Parliamentary Opposition is the APNU+AFC coalition and consists of 31 Members of Parliament. The APNU Partnership has an established structure and if the executive of a party in the partnership has a position and they wish to express that position; they should follow the established procedures. The Office of the Leader of the Opposition is a constitutional office and is consequently governed by the constitution”.

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