Describing it as a “done deal”, the Peoples National Congress Reform (PNCR) on Tuesday confirmed that its newly-elected leader Aubrey Norton will become the country’s Opposition Leader – replacing Joseph Harmon who served in the position for less than two years.
“The party had made a decision that the party leader will become the Leader of the Opposition. This is where we are with that…It’s a process and much of it is in the public domain already,” PNC Chair Shurwayne Holder disclosed during a press conference.
“We had consultations with APNU and AFC. As far as I am concerned, that’s a done deal. We await…when there is a vacancy and then we take it from there,” he added.
After initially refusing to step down as Opposition Leader, Harmon resigned from that position on January 26 as the PNC pushed for its new leader to represent them in that capacity in the National Assembly.
Harmon remained as a parliamentarian but eventually submitted his resignation to Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs last week. His resignation takes effect March 15.
Another seat on the Opposition benches will become vacant on March 31 which is when the resignation of Parliamentarian Nicolette Henry takes effect.
Henry – who served as Education Minister under the David Granger administration – announced her resignation as a Parliamentarian last month.
The PNC Chair said the party is looking at a list of possible replacements. “As I have said, we have a number of names, a long list. In terms of who goes to Parliament, the Central Executive has got to make that decision. We have to discuss internally and come up with the most suitable person. There will be no discrimination in that process,” he contended.
Norton has a mandate from the PNC Executive to take up both the position of Opposition Leader and the position of Representative of the List of Candidates for APNU+AFC– which is currently headed by former PNC leader David Granger with AFC’s Leader Khemraj Ramjattan as the deputy.
Harmon, who was contesting for leadership of the PNC, lost to Norton who won by a landslide victory.
Harmon as well as Granger were also not elected to the Central Executive Committee of the party – the highest decision-making body of the organisation.
At a press conference last week, Norton said Granger was asked to extract his name from the list for entry into Parliament.
Reacting to the news of Harmon’s resignation during an interview with this media outfit, the PNC Chair had expressed that “certainly (there’s a) possibility of the Leader of the PNC/R getting into Parliament much sooner than was anticipated. It didn’t take me by surprise when I saw the resignation. But I believe, as (claimed), Harmon has some personal issues. If that is the choice he has made, well, we can’t do much about that.”
