A deal being hammered out between governing coalition partners APNU and the AFC to save the Cummingsburg Accord would see the AFC prime minister not becoming President were that position to become vacant.
Sources say that this and other matters were discussed yesterday when APNU Leader, President David Granger and AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan met. Also in the talks were PNCR Chair Volda Lawrence and AFC negotiator David Patterson.
Aside from the views in APNU that the AFC does not merit the primeministership this time around, hardliners in the PNCR are adamant that the prime ministerial candidate – in this case Ramjattan – not accede to the presidency if the President had to demit office. Granger has been treated this year for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and his Cuban doctors last week declared that he was in remission.
If this deal is clinched between APNU and the AFC for the 2020 elections it would mirror the formula used by the PPP/C in 1999 to have Bharrat Jagdeo become President ahead of the then Prime Minister Sam Hinds.
Sources say that the AFC would have to commit to only the prime ministerial position but not accession to the presidency. The two sides are to reconvene today to seal a deal though in APNU and within its main component, the PNCR, there are strong views that the prime ministerial candidate for 2020 should not come from the AFC.
APNU’s balking at the AFC’s choice of Ramjattan as the PM candidate has brought the elections-winning Accord to the brink as the AFC has held strongly to its position. Sources say that while APNU believes that the AFC has lost electoral clout and there is deep-seated resentment that one of its MPs brought down the government, there is a view that the alliance should be preserved.
“They are concerned about succession and if something happens to the President,” one source told this newspaper.
“Although the President is going to appoint the Prime Minister, the APNU will always have the presidency. It is that language that takes care of it. We are working out the details and one of the things we are also looking at is say Khemraj takes vacation [while Prime Minister] that an APNU will act as PM,” the source added.
Another said that the AFC is willing to agree to the terms of not having the presidency and while its negotiators would have indicated that to APNU’s delegation, it was met with reservation with some still adamant that Ramjattan not be the candidate proposed.
“We said ok, we can give language that assures you that we will not covet the presidency. The AFC is a party of principles so we would not and are not afraid to sign to that. Our word is our bond and it is why are holding, and I say this again and again and will ad nauseam, that we would not relent that the PM candidate is a part of the original agreement and we will hold to that. This is what the party wants and we are not moving from this,” another source close to the process said.
He believes that both sides will come to an amicable resolution soon and that the coalition can “in due course announce that it remains strong and will be going into 2020 the same as it did in 2015”.
Sources also explained that it was Ramjattan who requested the one-on-one meeting with the President. Given the “good relationship” the two have, the President agreed and set yesterday’s time and location.
Following the meeting, Patterson told reporters “We have made progress and will meet again within 24 hours”.
Last Thursday the AFC declared that negotiations on a revised Cummingsburg Accord had stalled.
Party executive Dominic Gaskin announced that negotiations on a new accord had stalled due to APNU’s failure to accept Ramjattan as the coalition’s prime ministerial (PM) candidate.
“The AFC finds it unacceptable that the matter of the presidential and prime ministerial candidates has been repeatedly deferred,” he told reporters, adding that the AFC has therefore advised the APNU that it cannot proceed with any further discussions until the matter is resolved.
Though Gaskin indicated that the APNU was aware of his party’s dissatisfaction, Lawrence last Friday said she was surprised at the party’s claims.
“There was some element of surprise,” she observed, adding that for her, while negotiations have been “very tedious,” the two teams have made tremendous steps towards finalising a new accord.
The PNCR Chairwoman stressed that despite recent reports in the media, the coalition remains strong. She explained that from her point of view, the negotiations had paused only because Patterson, was out of the country.
