APNU/AFC to review performance at impending summit
In less than a month, the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change coalition (APNU/AFC) will commemorate its first year in governance, as such, the coalition is expected to host a seminar to review its performance over the past 12 months.
This was revealed by Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman on Wednesday at the post Cabinet briefing which was held at the Ministry of the Presidency.
APNU/AFC coalition to review past year’s performance
“As we approach the first year in Government, there will be such a gathering where you can look at the triumphs and the hills and the valleys, the lows and the highs of the coalition Government and the relationship between the parties,” he stated.
However, Trotman noted that no date has been set aside for the hosting of such a forum but assured that this event will take place within the coming weeks. He did not say whether it will on or before May 16 – the date last year when the coalition was sworn into governance after being announced the winners at the May 11, 2015 General and Regional Elections.
Tensions rising
Meanwhile, tension seems to be building within the APNU/AFC Government after the AFC, the smaller party in the coalition, recently raised concerns about the amount of authority being vested to Minister of State Joseph Harmon.
Harmon has recently found himself in the midst of controversies following a recent trip to China. In this regard, the AFC had called for Harmon’s powers to be trimmed. The party had explained that the concentration of the powers of the office of the Cabinet Secretary, the Minister of State in the Ministry of the Presidency and the effective Head of the Presidential Secretariat in a single person is a matter of concern and that in fact, the powers should be separated.
However, President David Granger had subsequently stated that Harmon’s duties and responsibilities are not too burdensome. “I don’t think that they are so burdensome that he cannot take all three responsibilities. I am standing by the duties which were assigned to him last May and this is what we have been working with for the last 11 months,” the Head of State told reporters last week.
Nevertheless, Minister Trotman revealed on Wednesday that the matter was brought up before Cabinet during which President Granger encouraged the AFC Leader and Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, and the party’s Vice Chairman, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, to voice their concerns.
“They gave their opinions, their views (and) were not hindered in anyway… The AFC as a constituent member or a partner in a coalition may give its views and it has done so,” he stated. However, the Natural Resources Minister outlined that while the matter was raised, the issues raised by the AFC were not resolved.
In fact, he pointed out that such a resolution will have to be undertaken at a different forum. “The issue of the AFC views and the APNU views cannot be settled in Cabinet. Cabinet is a governmental institution. The APNU and AFC will have to meet at some high level summit and work through those matters,” he noted.
The APNU and AFC signed the Cummingsburg Accord in February 2015 to contest the national elections. They went on to win the polls, taking 33 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly in a controversial election, which results have since been challenged in court.
