Opposition coalition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) continues to be governed by a leadership council represented by its four founding parties but the implementation of a more formal structure is currently being examined, vice-Chairman Dr Rupert Roopnaraine says.
Roopnaraine and party Chairman David Granger both rejected views that one person had been instrumental in making all the major decisions in the partnership. They also refuted suggestions from some quarters that PNCR Leader Robert Corbin had an extremely influential role in selecting the list of parliamentarians to represent the party in the Tenth parliament. Corbin, himself, is not returning to the National Assembly and has indicated that he will not be seeking public office again.
Describing the post-elections period as a time of “transition, consolidation and recruitment,” Roopnaraine, in response to a question, said that the partnership’s governing leadership council consists of representatives from the Guyana Action Party (GAP), the Guyana People’s Partnership (GPP), the National Front Alliance (NFA), the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and the Working People’s Alliance (WPA).This council is chaired by Granger.
The council, Roopnaraine explained, has appointed an Executive Committee charged with dealing with matters of security and political sensitivity. This committee consists of Granger, Roopnaraine, Corbin, Joseph Harmon and WPA’s executive Professor Clive Thomas. Decisions of the committee, Roopnaraine added, are put as recommendations to the council for amendment or ratification.
According to Roopnaraine, the leadership council recently invited its affiliate partners, including civil society organizations, for an initial consultation. “We are in the process of considering the formalization of the entire leadership structure,” he said. “Our guiding principles are inclusion and consensus decision-making. Also under consideration are the recruitment and organisation of large numbers of people who wish to become members of APNU,” he added.
When the issue was raised with Granger, he said that the decisions of APNU were made consensually at the level of the leadership council.
He said that this included the names extracted to be the partnership’s representatives in the National Assembly.
Granger also explained that the leadership council differed from the leadership team announced by APNU ahead of the recent polls. That leadership team was headed by Granger and Roopnaraine and included university lecturer Dr Rishee Thakur and conservationist Sydney Allicock, Anthony Vieira, Dion Abrams, Tabitha Sarabo, Nicole Telford, Keith Scott, Vaughn Phillips, Desmond Trotman and Annette Ferguson. Other members of the leadership team included finance minister Carl Greenidge, Dr George Norton, Volda Lawrence, James Bond, Bishwaishwar ‘Cammie’ Ramsaroop, Dawn Hastings, Africo Selman, Deborah Backer, Christopher Jones, Cheryl Sampson, Basil Williams, Amna Ally and Ganesh Mahipaul.
Meanwhile, as the coalition continues to press forward, Roopnaraine indicated that it is currently looking for “more substantial premises” to serve as its headquarters. He told Stabroek News that the Regent Street secretariat building, which had been retained in the run up to the polls, is now inadequate since APNU has outgrown its resources and capacity.
