People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Central Executive Committee member Joseph Harmon has confirmed that he will be Opposition Leader of the APNU/AFC Coalition when the 12th Parliament convenes.
Joseph Harmon
During an interview on a live programme on the APNU/AFC Facebook page, Harmon explained that while the Leader of the Opposition position is obtained in the Parliament, the party has already decided that he would assume this position.
“The Opposition Members of Parliament, they vote for you in the Parliament…but internally, among all our MPs (Members of Parliament), I have been nominated and seconded by our MPs to be that person… There is still a second phase it has to go through, which is when the Parliament convenes, then the MPs will actually make that nomination and election in the Parliament,” Harmon disclosed on the social media programme.
This comes just over two weeks after Harmon, an attorney-at-law and former army officer, was co-opted to serve on the PNCR Central Executive Committee (CEC) along with Simona Broomes.
The former Minister of State in the APNU/AFC Administration had to give up his post and his parliamentary seat in the National Assembly last year, after the courts had ruled that dual citizens cannot sit in the National Assembly. He had a dual United States citizenship, which he has since relinquished.
Shortly after, Harmon was appointed Director General of the then Ministry of the Presidency – a post created just for him, with a salary of $900,000 and over $500,000 in non-taxable allowances as well as other perks and benefits.
Following the change of Government early this month, he had refused to vacate his post, even after receiving a termination letter from the new administration.
Since losing the March 2 General and Regional Elections, the APNU/AFC Coalition has been trying to keep its wits together. In fact, the PNCR, which is the leading party in the APNU faction of the Coalition, has been embroiled in disunity and power struggles among its members.
Reports are that senior members within the PNC are dissatisfied with the performance of current Leader and former President, David Granger.
Only recently, there was uproar over the APNU/AFC formulated list of Members of Parliament. The list was handpicked by Granger with little to no consultation within the coalition, and has been intensely criticised.
In fact, former MP James Bond went on a tirade against Granger on social media. Bond criticised the PNC and its current leadership for not consulting with the party’s membership before making its decision on the parliamentarians.
Bond went further to blame Granger’s leadership for making the party lose the March 2 General and Regional Elections, as he threatened to rewrite the former President’s legacy and dismantle Granger’s “cabal.”
Following this, a former PNCR Executive Committee Member on Tuesday wrote a stinging rebuke against the party leader, and blamed him for the current disunity and power struggle within the party.
According to that member, Lurlene Nestor, under Granger’s leadership, the party has been beset with power struggles; an aloof leader, who failed to reconnect with those who put him in power; and an unwillingness to accommodate criticism from within the party.
Meanwhile, the process for selecting the Parliamentary list was cited as one of the reasons why the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) broke away from the five-party APNU coalition.
In fact, one of the partnership’s remaining four member-parties: Justice For All Party (JFAP), has also threatened to walk. (G8)
