Nehru has proclaimed that Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan are 'house slaves' in the APNU+AFC government. I shall use Nehru's terminology to make my point. Can house slaves revolt? History shows us that in 1763 a house slave named Cuffy led a rebellion in Berbice that will be remembered long into the future.
On February 14 last year, AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan and APNU Leader David Granger jointly signed a document named the Cummingsburg Accord that led to a coalition government after the May 11 general elections. APNU+AFC had issued a joint Manifesto two weeks before May 11. During the past 8 months some of the new government's actions have been at variance with its manifesto promises. For me, that is bad but not unexpected. Politicians notoriously make and break promises. However, the Cummingsburg Accord is a signed document and it must be applied scrupulously in letter and in spirit.
I support the coalition government because I am an AFC supporter. I have observed through social media and the mainstream news media that many AFC supporters and members are dissatisfied at how Guyana is governed now. They had held high expectations that this government would have been far better than the defeated PPP regime which Ralph Ramkarran described as the most corrupt in the history of Guyana.
According to the Cummingsburg Accord, “The President is Head of State, Head of Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces ....” Clearly, the AFC contested the elections with the foreknowledge that the Prime Minister would NOT have been Head of Government as is usually the case. Now we know that President Granger has placed the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) within the Ministry of the Presidency (MOTP) and that PM Moses Nagamootoo would have responsibility for 'governance'. In my view, Mr Nagamootoo will be rubber-stamping governance matters decided by the Head of Government, Mr Granger.
Recently, Mr Nagamootoo paid an official visit to the Essequibo Coast. He and his wife reportedly could not sleep in the Prime Ministerial suite in the region's State House because the REO Hopkinson was occupying it. I understand that Hopkinson is an APNU appointee and I assume that APNU knows where he is residing. There were days or weeks of planning for the PM's visit and I don't understand why the government didn't ensure that Hopkinson vacate the PM Suite. If that is not humiliating to the AFC, what is?
Again, according to the Cummingsburg Accord, “The Prime Minister shall have responsibility for: Domestic Affairs and Chairing the Cabinet. Recommending Ministerial appointments and providing the organizational structures of Ministries for the approval of the President. Appointing Heads of Agencies and non-constitutional commissions, subject to the required and agreed democratic mechanisms of consultation and appointment. Domestic security.” News media reports have shown that some of these things are not happening and that the OPM is a virtual rubber-stamp of the MOTP. It seems as if Mr Granger and Mr Ramjattan don't respect their signatures on the Cummingsburg Accord.
If the trend of governance continues, sooner or later the AFC part of the coalition will be meaningless. So, I think that AFC members and supporters must call upon the party's leadership to give straight answers to straight questions as to whether President Granger is surreptitiously and methodically marginalizing the AFC in government.
The Accord will be 12 months old on February 14. In its own words, the Accord is “a sunset agreement with a lifespan of a minimum of 36 months and a maximum of 60 months....” In other words, after February 14, 2018 President Granger can scrap the Accord if he feels strong enough to govern without the AFC. Mr Granger is an astute chess player and a master strategist and tactician. In his power play, it appears as if he is positioning his men to check the AFC king.
The AFC leadership must boldly demand strict adherence to the Cummingsburg Accord, failing which the party reserves the right to withdraw its 12 parliamentary seats from the 33-seat coalition. It can still be a powerful third force and significant influence in the Guyanese political arena. Gilbakka is hereby offering the AFC friendly advice to assert itself in the coalition before it is too late and the party becomes 'dead meat', fulfilling Mr Ramjattan's prophecy.
