President David Granger

…despite President’s acceptance

General Secretary of the Alliance For Change (AFC), David Patterson has said that the claimed violations of the Cummingsburg Accord has not yet been hammered out between that party and the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) but at the same time asserted that he does not believe there is any violation.

Speaking to the Guyana Times on Monday evening, Patterson said that while there is a six member inter-party committee established – comprising General Secretary of the APNU, Joseph Harmon; Basil Williams, Nigel Hughes, Dominic Gaskin and himself, and meetings are held as necessary, no issue of violation has ever been addressed by the two parties.

Patterson said that the last meeting, which was held some two weeks ago, was in an effort to pave a way for the selection of the Speaker of the National Assembly while the next one, slated to be held this week, will be held to sort out the business of the regional councillors according to the Cummngsburg 60/40 proportionality agreement which is in place and any other business on the agenda.

AFC General Secretary David Patterson

He further added that the meetings were also being facilitated to ensure that the tenets of the Cummingsburg Accord were implemented accordingly. To this end, Patterson revealed that there is a Chairman of the committee, who happens to be former President of the Guyana Bar Association, Ronald Burch- Smith who is tasked with the responsibility of ironing out any issue which cannot be settled between the two parties and which is a matter of concern. To this end however, he related that no such complaints have reached Burch- Smith since the coalition came into power. This would mean that no one from the AFC has made any complaints of violations of the Cummingsburg Accord, in line with what the leaders such as Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan have been asserting.

Chairing of Cabinet

Questioned specifically on the matter of the President chairing Cabinet which is in direct contravention of the Accord, Patterson said that that was not a point a conflict within the party since Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo is usually present at the all cabinet meetings and co chairs the proceedings. He did not elaborate on what “do-char” meant.

He however admitted that the President has been chairing the past three cabinet meetings since he is tasked with the responsibility of national security and at that time, the Venezuela- Guyana border controversy was prominently featured and as such, the President took the time to meet his Ministers on that matter. In previous announcements it had been asserted that Granger had chaired informally.

Prime Minister
Moses Nagamootoo

President Granger when asked to comment on the violation of the accord, unlike the other leaders, had implicitly admitted that there were violations but expressed that the coalition was presently working on a review of the document. He claimed that to persist with some of the stipulations of the Accord will be unconstitutional and as such, he will be awaiting the constitutional reform so that the agreement can be followed. “To the extent that some things are in collision with the Constitution they will await constitutional change…we cannot be expected to do unconstitutional things,” Granger told reporters.

When questioned on the matter Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo had nonchalantly said that he was not bothered or in any way affected by President Granger reneging on that agreement and chairing the proceedings of the Cabinet. Nagamootoo had further stated that the Accord was not worth more than the country and, as such, those were minor things. “We have an active President and we have to make this Accord work; make this coalition work; and for me the things that are minor irritancies I won’t elevate to any importance,” he had said.

However, former speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran, hinted at a possible breakup of the A Partnership for National Unity- Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition government due to the several violations of the Cummingsburg Accord and alleged internal pressure on President David Granger from his party People’s National Congress Reform.

According to Ramkarran, the violation of the Cummingsburg Accord, which brought the parties together has been blatantly disrespected and if it not addressed quickly and appropriately, the parties can expect to lose the support of its electorates, particularly the AFC.

He noted that the explanation which has been put forth by the President that the Constitution will have to be amended in order for the Cummingsburg Accord to be followed is inaccurate. He further added that the fact that the AFC seemed to be tolerating the digress would only seem like a bad omen.

Patterson however posited that the view that the coalition was in the verge or the danger of falling apart could not be further from the truth.

This appeared to be a valid view since the AFC leaders disagreed with President Granger that there had been violations Patterson admitted to this publication however that he does believe that there is some level of miscommunication currently existing between the coalition and the electorates or the population and as such, he believes that it is a matter which be must be clarified at the earliest possible time.

To this, he has promised to discuss the matter with the party and all other stakeholders, alluding that a press conference may soon be in the pipeline.