Leaders of People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) – the leading party in the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) faction of the Coalition Opposition – Friday afternoon met with their counterparts from the Alliance For Change (AFC) to discuss the appointment of a new Leader of the Opposition, among other issues.
General Secretary of the AFC, David Patterson, told this publication Friday evening that the two parties discussed “all the issues we had that were current. We decided that we would meet again on Tuesday.”
Asked whether any decision was made as it relates to a new Opposition Leader, Patterson stated that this will be done at Tuesday’s engagement.
Meanwhile, repeated efforts to contact several senior PNC officials Friday evening were futile.
However, at a press conference earlier that day, PNC General Secretary, Geeta Chandan-Edmond, told reporters that that sole agenda for Friday’s meeting with the AFC is to discuss “parliamentary affairs.”
“So anything that touches and relates to parliamentary matters, we will be discussing those on the table,” she had said.
Earlier this month, it was reported that the PNCR Central Executive has decided the party’s leader, Aubrey Norton, should hold the post of Opposition Leader.
While he initially refused to step down, Joseph Harmon on Wednesday resigned as Opposition Leader.
However, since Norton is not a current Member of Parliament, it was reported that Opposition Parliamentarians, Roysdale Forde and Amanza Walton-Desir, were being considered for the post.
But at Friday’s press conference, PNC Chairman Shurwayne Holder contended that the party has already made a decision on its nomination for the Opposition Leader position, ruling out that other candidates are being considered for the post.
“I can say without a shadow of doubt that there has been no such discussions [on the consideration of other candidates for the Opposition Leader position] by our party… Our party has made a decision on this matter as to who should be the Leader of the Opposition, and that is where it remains,” he stated.
Holder also indicated that the PNC has already started engaging some of its partners within the APNU grouping, which the majority party in the Coalition Opposition.
Earlier this week, Harmon had also resigned as General Secretary of the APNU, and former PNC Leader David Granger stepped down as Chairman.
Norton has since assumed leadership of the APNU and is also looking to take over as Head of the APNU+AFC List of Candidate – a position that is currently being by Granger.
In fact, PNC General Secretary told reporters on Friday that consultations are ongoing to determine the procedure in moving forward with this issue. She had stated too that the PNC will be discussing this with the AFC.
But Patterson informed this publication after Friday’s meeting this matter did not come up for discussion.
However, AFC Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, who is the Deputy Head of the List, had previously made it clear that the established procedures must be followed before the Representative of the List can be changed.
