The Alliance For Change (AFC) is unsure whether Executive Member Moses Nagamootoo will return as its prime ministerial candidate for the upcoming General and Regional Elections, constitutionally due in March.
This is according to AFC’s Chairman, Khemraj Ramjattan, at a press conference on Wednesday, where he told reporters that the party will be discussing this among other issues at its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting this weekend.
“We’re not there at this stage in relation to that. All of that will have to be decided at national congress,” Ramjattan said when he was asked whether Nagamootoo will return alongside the Presidential Candidate of the APNU+AFC Coalition at the upcoming polls.
In accordance with the 2015 ‘deal’ in the form of a Cummingsburg Accord between the two parties, AFC will have the Prime Ministerial position while the Presidential post goes to A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).
On Monday, President Granger was endorsed by his party, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R), to run for a second term. In fact, the PNC/R – the larger partner in five-party APNU – officially threw its support behind its leader via a letter from General Secretary Amna Ally.
Last week, however, AFC’s Vice Chair Cathy Hughes had said that it was too soon for the party to say whether it would support Granger’s presidential candidature.
But Ramjattan said after, that this matter will be discussed at the upcoming NEC meeting, but it is “likely” that the party will support Granger as Presidential Candidate.
President Granger was diagnosed in October with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and is seeking treatment in Cuba, which requires him to travel back and forth between the two countries. In fact, he returned to Guyana on Saturday evening after undergoing his fourth round of chemotherapy for cancer.
Since the December 21, 2018 passage of the No-Confidence Motion several political commentators and stakeholders, including the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Opposition, have been calling on the APNU/AFC Government to resign and call elections, which according to Article 106 (7) should be held within three months.
This means, elections should be held by March 21 this year.
