MINISTER of State, Mr Joseph Harmon, has emphatically put to rest any idea circulating that suggests the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition is being self-subverted.In referring to ‘ridiculous statements in some sections of the press,’ the Minister declared quite boldly that on the contrary, “the Coalition is not falling apart, but is working quite cohesively.”

From the inception, when the coalition was launched in February 2015, it was attacked by many, or at least held in suspicion. APNU and AFC, on the launching, had also signed the Cummingsburg Accord. At its core, the Cummingsburg Accord strongly suggests that there must be a sharing of political power and responsibility, as the Agreement provides for some amount of Executive authority to be delegated to the Prime Minister, and it is this which is being used by opposers of the Government to suggest that the union is now suffering from some form of schism and that the Prime Minister is being slighted.

However, according to Minister Harmon, there is no rift and “at the Chairing of Cabinet, there is no issue, because Cabinet is chaired by the President, and upon direction from him, parts are Chaired by the PM.” The Minister alluded to the Tuesday, June 30 Cabinet session, when “in fact, half of the meeting was chaired by the Honourable PM, and the other half, by the President.” He also added the all-important detail that, “all decisions made under that particular person, chairing a session, that those decisions stand right across board, and so no one is seeking to subvert another.”

Mr Harmon even hinted at the gathering momentum of the coalition, saying that a forum on coalition building, to strengthen the merger of the APNU and AFC, will take place later in July.

Recently, people queried what was happening with the APNU+AFC bond, but Prime Minister Nagamootoo had offered the explanation that he “is more or less a partner of the President. We consult on a number of issues…I believe that I occupy a very strategic role in the administration of the country.” Prime Minister Nagamootoo is currently acting President of Guyana, in the absence of President Granger who is in Barbados attending the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting.