While there remains an impasse between A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Alliance For Change (AFC) concerning the Cummingsburg Accord, the doors for agreement have not been shut. At least not by the AFC.
In fact, one of AFC’s founder leaders, Raphael Trotman, has indicated that the two sides have no other choice but to find common grounds.
At a press conference this morning, Trotman said, “I don’t see a better alternative to the Coalition, compromise has to be found on both sides. We have to do what is best in the national interest.”
The discussions between the two parties have been paused following a logjam over the provision of the Prime Ministerial (PM) Candidate.
AFC Party Executive and Treasurer, Dominic Gaskin confirmed this earlier today.
He said, “The AFC now wishes to confirm reports that the negotiations of the revised Cummingsberg Accord between the two parties have stalled due to a lack of consensus on this issue. The AFC has Advised the APNU that it cannot proceed with any further discussions unless and until this matter is resolved.”
Gaskin, in his opening remarks, said that following the naming of the coalition’s presidential candidate by the APNU, the AFC, at its National Conference held in June of this year, proceeded to elect the Prime Ministerial Candidate for the coalition, in keeping with the terms and conditions of the existing Cummingsberg Accord between the two parties. The AFC Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, who serves as the Public Security Minister, was elected to run for this post.
Ramjattan has since then signaled his willingness to run alongside David Granger, the Coalition’s Presidential Candidate.
However, when the negotiation teams from both sides met to revise the accord, they could not see eye-to-eye when it came to the question of who will provide the PM candidate.
Gaskin could not say what the APNU recommended because according to him, the counterarguments were not “clear” to the AFC negotiation team.
Nevertheless, he noted that the party has no intention of giving up that right. He added that the naming of the Prime Ministerial candidate by the AFC was the fundamental and non-negotiable tenant of the AFC’s decision to form a coalition in the first place. This position has not changed, Gaskin stressed.
He added that the AFC finds it “unacceptable” that the matter has repeatedly been deferred.
Gaskin said that the party will decide and deliberate on its mode of participation in the upcoming National and Regional Elections, at the party’s National Executive Committee Meeting on November 2 of this year.
