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Granger continues to hold on as representative of APNU+AFC list
– as Yearwood resigns from the post for ANUG
Kaieteur News – Social activist, Jonathan Yearwood has announced his resignation as the representative of the list for A New and United Guyana (ANUG) and political commentators say former President David Granger should do likewise with his party currently locked in a leadership dispute.
Former President, David Granger flanked by Joseph Harmon (left) and Khemraj Ramjattan.
“This letter serves to inform all members of the public, who may be interested, that I have formally resigned from the position of Representative of the List for the A New and United Guyana political party. Last year I resigned from the Executive Council and as a member of the party. However, because of the ongoing confusion within the GECOM and their subsequent search for a Chief Election Officer, I had withheld my resignation.
My resignation has since been handed in to GECOM on the 10th January, 2022,” Yearwood said in a letter to the press.
Earlier this month the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R)- the major party in the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) coalition 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. The party also decided that Norton must assume the position of representative of the list- a position currently being held by Granger. “The Party Central Executive (Committee) 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,” Norton had told a news conference recently.
Political Commentator, Dr. Henry Jeffrey in a recent online discussion called on both Granger and Harmon to resign their posts, paving the way for Norton. He said having overwhelmingly won the leadership of the PNCR, Norton should be made the head of the list as well as the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament.
Norton told a news conference that “one of the arguments the PNCR Central Executive Committee 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.
However, since Norton made the announcement there has been resistance from Harmon who in an official statement to the media had reminded that, “the main Parliamentary Opposition is the APNU+AFC coalition and consists of 31 Members of Parliament.” To this end, he reminded that, “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.” Harmon used the occasion to remind publicly that, “the Office of the Leader of the Opposition is a constitutional office and is consequently governed by the constitution.” This, in addition to an unsigned statement released to the media yesterday purportedly from “Members” reminding that “in 2011 at the birth of the APNU a collective decision was made as to who would be head of the list. In 2015 a collective decision was made as to who would be head of the list when the Alliance for Change coalesced with APNU.” In 2020, the APNU+AFC agreed that the head and the deputy head of the list would be David Granger and Khemraj Ramjattan respectively.
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