Figueira resigns from PNCR

Jun 29, 2025 News

Kaieteur News – Member of Parliament, Jermaine Figueira, has tendered his resignation from the PNCR with immediate effect.

Sources say he is expected to endorse President Irfaan Ali.

Figueira served two terms as a MP for the APNU, representing Region 10.

His letter to the PNCR Leader, Aubrey Norton, indicated that he is also resigning as a Member of the National Assembly. He was the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly.

In his letter, captioned, ‘Resignation from The Central Executive and Membership of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and Representative of the party in the National Assembly of Guyana’, Figueira wrote: “Dear Mr. Aubrey Norton, with respect to the above caption, I the undersigned herby tender my resignation with immediate effect. ”

Only on Friday at his weekly news conference, Norton was questioned about Figueira and whether he will feature on the party’s list as a candidate for the upcoming elections. Norton said Figueira was approached, but was yet to complete the paperwork to be on the candidate’s list.

“I have always said that there is a place for Jermaine Figueira in the PNCR and the APNU. At least, up until now, he hasn’t signed but once he disposed to becoming a member of the list, he will be,” Norton said.

Figueira has become the fourth MP for the coalition to have resigned from the PNCR in recent weeks. The others are: Amanza Walton-Desir, Geeta Chandan-Edmond and Natasha Singh-Lewis. Other notable defections are: Region Four Regional Chairman, Daniel Seeram, and the Regional Vice Chairman, Samuel Sandy. Norton has maintained that the PNCR is an institution that is strong and unbreakable, and that no number of defections and/or resignations will cause it to fall.

Last week, former president David Granger had compared the current situation with past political realignments in Guyana’s history, noting that while some defections had major historical significance, the present developments are unlikely to undermine the PNCR’s foundation.

Granger said that except in the cases of Guyana’s grand historic schisms, such as those of Forbes Burnham’s separation from the PPP to establish the People’s National Congress in 1957, and Hamilton Green’s and Raphael Trotman’s defections from the PNC to establish the Good and Green Guyana (GGG) in 1993 and the AFC in 2005, respectively, solitary defections, such as Brindley Benn’s departure from the PPP to form the Working People’s Vanguard Party in 1969, remain just that. He argued that recent defections, though newsworthy, are driven more by personal ambition and internal disputes than by ideological shifts.

“Defections, despite their short-term shock effect, tend to be driven by private desires and personality clashes rather than by the determination to fulfil the legitimate expectations of the people from whom they expect electoral votes and money. The notorious defection of an AFC parliamentarian who voted with the PPPC Opposition in the National Assembly in December 2018, however, was extremely damaging. It not only triggered the collapse of the government and precipitated fresh elections in the short-term but also fomented the lingering, long-term distrust between the parties to this day,” Granger said.

Still, he acknowledged that the resignation of the three young female coalition MPs is a matter that must not be ignored. “The…opposition parties need to address, not dismiss, the internal ‘push factors’ that triggered their decisions. Desertions are always likely to occur in Guyanese politics and, though undesirable, should not be unexpected. Elections are not won by splendid defections, however notorious and well-timed. Equally, they do cause uneasiness in the wider electorate, especially among women voters. It would be a serious error to discount the possibility of the ‘copycat’ effect of the departures. Guyanese have endured turbulent weeks but more shocking events are likely to occur over the next ten long weeks ahead until E-Day,” Granger said.

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Amanza Walton-Desir, Geeta Chandan Edmond, Jermaine Figueira, PNCR, President Irfaan Ali, resignation

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