-VP Jagdeo says as he urges citizens not to buy into AFC’s exit from coalition

WHILE it might seem like the real deal to some, Vice-President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, is warning citizens not to buy into the Alliance For Change (AFC)’s departure from the coalition, calling it a publicity stunt.

On February 14, 2015, the Alliance for Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) entered into a coalition, based on an agreement known as the Cummingsburg Accord. The coalition campaigned on this Accord, and went to the electorate for approval on May 11, 2015 and March 18, 2016.

Recently, the Leader of the AFC, Khemraj Ramjattan, confirmed that the relationship came to an end in keeping with his party’s promise to part ways with the APNU when the agreement came to an end.

“We did a withdrawal as part of the [Cummingsburg] Accord,” Ramjattan had said in a telephone interview with this publication. According to Ramjattan, the party had made the decision early last year to leave the coalition.

However, the Vice President, during a live interview which was broadcasted on social media, said the departure is nothing but a publicity stunt to clean its image since the AFC cannot stand on its own and needs the APNU.

“So, we have the infamous statement by Ramjattan that they are now breaking off from the coalition formally because the accord has come to an end. That accord they had, you could have taken it in its entirety and thrown it in the toilet and flushed it down and it would not have mattered to this country.

“It was a three-card trick for the country. It represented the PNC (People’s National Congress Reform) dominance in the coalition… the sucking up attitude of the AFC is more apparent through the practice of the last government,” he said.

According to a clause in the accord, the Prime Minister [senior member AFC Moses Nagamootoo] would chair the Cabinet. Article 106 (3) of the Guyana Constitution expressly states that such responsibility should reside in the President, and rightly so, given that the office holder is the supreme executive authority. This means that he or she is head of the executive branch of government.

Against this background, Dr Jagdeo said this was never done by the Nagamootoo, who was instead given the role as Minister with Responsibility for Public Information and was tasked with overseeing the state media agencies.

The Vice President added that instead of speaking out against these breaches of the accord, the AFC said nothing.
“… They should have said ‘hold on wait a minute, you breached the accord and we need to address it at this point in time because that is not what we told the electorate of the country.

“But their analogy and their lust for power, the corrupt cabal that was the AFC, made them hang on. ANPU could have walked the PNC all over them or thrown them in a pig sty and they wouldn’t have complained because they just want to hang onto power,” Dr. Jagdeo said.

He added, “So when Ramjattan says that the accord has come to an end, the accord never even started. They say that they are no longer formally part of the coalition, but they are still together in Parliament.”

According to the Vice President, Ramjattan thinks, “he’s gonna fool the people of this country,” while adding that the party has lost practically all of its support on the ground.

“The only way that they could probably regain some of their support, is if they distanced themselves from the PNC because there’s a group of people in this country that will never do anything associated with the PNC.

“So, this is a tactic to fool people, don’t be fooled. The AFC will never walk away from the coalition in substance. On paper, they will do it and publicly they will say it due to people, but in substance, they are nothing without hanging onto the PNC,” he said.

Dr. Jagdeo explained that when he heard the news of the split a few months ago, he thought it was a joke and did not pay mind to the news.

“I just thought what a joke and really you have to be extraordinarily stupid to believe anything that they say once again as they tried to reinvent themselves,” he added.