Cummingsburg Accord kinks ironed out, ‘working wonderfully’ – Ramjattan

A year after the inking of the Cummingsburg Accord which underpinned the successful pre-election alliance between APNU and the AFC, the partnership appears to be going strong and a major criticism that the Prime Minister was not chairing Cabinet in breach of the agreement has been quelled.

“It is working well,” leader of the AFC Khemraj Ramjattan told Stabroek News last week. The Cummingsburg Accord was sealed on February 14 last year and paved the way for the success of the APNU+AFC coalition at the May 11 general and regional elections that toppled the PPP/C after 23 years in power. “The Cummingsburg Accord is working wonderfully knowing the context and challenges you would have in coalition politics,” Ramjattan declared.

In the weeks following the elections, observers had criticised the coalition government for what appeared to be breaches of the Accord, including the non-adherence to a provision that said that the Prime Minister would chair Cabinet meetings. Subsequently, in an interview with Stabroek News, President David Granger had said that parts of the