By Fareeza Haniff
[www.inewsguyana.com] –General Secretary of the Alliance For Change (AFC), David Patterson has debunked reports that his Party and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) are discussing a plan for a rotating presidency if there is to be a pro – democracy alliance.
A local newspaper on Monday, February 09 credited a source, stating that it was proposed the two parties rotate the presidency with APNU taking the first three years and the AFC taking the last two years.
However, when contacted by iNews, Patterson questioned the validity of the source quoted in the article.
The General Secretary made it clear that “rotation of candidates (or presidency) has not been discussed to date.”
Patterson also rubbished the article’s claims that the AFC expressed concern about the impact to its support base of mainly Indo-Guyanese if their candidate is not given the presidency.
“Neither AFC or APNU has EVER raised the issue of ethnicity in any discussions to date; the pro-democracy alliance is based on inclusion of the broadest section of the Guyanese society as possible, as such our discussions have been based on these principles,” Patterson clarified to iNews.
He said that meetings with the APNU will continue this week, in an attempt to have matters resolved before the AFC’s deadline of February 14, when it will report to its Executive Committee.
On February 05, the AFC reported that it submitted a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to the APNU for consideration.
The MoU covers areas of governance, matters of national, urgent and comprehensive constitutional reforms, reorganization and improvement of both the offices of the President and the Prime Minister, the possible size of a Pro Democracy Alliance (PDA) cabinet, a priority set of developmental policies and time frame for delivery for any PDA administration along with political structure and possible campaign methodology.
