By Vishani Ragobeer

THE Justice For All Party (JFAP) representative in the APNU+AFC coalition, Jaipaul Sharma, has decided to join the People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R), where he sees a brighter future for Guyana and for himself.

The JFAP is one of the five parties that constitute the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) coalition. The other parties include the People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R), the National Front Alliance (NFA), the Guyana Action Party (GAP) and the Working People’s Alliance (WPA). The JFAP, however, is led by Chandra Narine Sharma, who is Jaipaul’s father.

When contacted by this newspaper on Saturday, Sharma indicated that his reason for leaving the JFAP to join the PNC/R was he believes the PNC is a more “democratic” party and it has a vision that will propel development in Guyana.

“I was with that party with the coalition… and I have seen that this party is a very democratic party,” he said. He also indicated that PNC leader, President David Granger, is the right person to lead Guyana.

APNU was formed in 2011 and the party joined forces with the Alliance For Change (AFC) in 2015 to contest elections that year. The APNU+AFC coalition was elected to government with President David Granger at the helm of the government.

A fervent supporter of the President, Sharma said, “I believe if he (President Granger) is in that party, I believe I should be in that party.”

He also related that the party’s ideals and plans for economic development are reminiscent of those that were advanced by the party’s founder, former President, Linden Forbes Burnham.

“If you ever listened to me, you would have constantly heard that I hold the same vision of Burnham and I believe that I am in the right place now where I can continue making progress to have this country transformed,” Sharma explained.

According to him, the development of Guyana was hindered after being led by the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) for 23 years. During this time, he opined that Guyana could have made better use of the available and abundant resources to develop into a more industrial state. This, he said, was President’s Burnham vision — to have a productive manufacturing sector.

“Burnham tried to diversify the economy and that is what we’re [the APNU+AFC coalition] trying to do now,” Sharma said, but also said the incumbent government first had to “repair the damage” done by the PPP/C.

On a more personal front, he also explained that he believes he will be able to position himself better for leadership in government with the PNC/R.
Sharma elaborated that another factor he considered was the inclination of political parties to “support their own”. Cognisant that the PNC/R is the largest and dominant party within the five-party APNU, he opined that members from this party are more likely to be assigned to the “premier ministries”.

Sharma became the Minister within the Ministry of Finance in 2015, and in 2019, he was reassigned to the Ministry of Public Infrastructure as a junior minister.

“Now that I am with the PNC/R, they could now consider me as someone they can trust more and give more responsibilities,” Sharma said.

He recalled that he was singled out by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, as the member of government who would support the no-confidence motion brought against the incumbent coalition. As such, perhaps, the coalition would have had some reason not to trust him entirely.