Justice for All Party withdraws from APNU coalition

Justice for All Party withdraws from APNU coalition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has lost another coalition partner as the Justice For All Party (JFAP) announced that it was breaking away from the coalition.

In a letter dated September 1, 2020, JFAP General Secretary Savitree Sharma announced the split. The letter notes that in light of the changing political landscape and the need to re-examine roles, JFAP is withdrawing from the coalition.
The smaller party also acknowledged that APNU has both its strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures. Considering that a prevailing complaint against APNU has been its lack of consultations with its members, this is likely to be one of the weaknesses.
“The purpose of this letter is to formally advise that the Justice For All Party is hereby withdrawing from the APNU party, which has been the umbrella organization for the PNC and smaller political parties including the JFAP.”
“Like any other organization, APNU has had its strength and weaknesses, successes and failures. The Guyana political landscape is changing significantly and it demands a re-examination of roles and relationships,” the letter said, going on to thank APNU for taking on JFAP.

The JFAP has had a dramatic relationship within the APNU. Jaipaul Sharma, son of party founder CN Sharma, quit the JFAP and switched to the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) early this year.
The JFAP was also the first and only party within the coalition to concede defeat after the March 2 General and Regional Elections. It did so at a time when its coalition partners were steadfastly denying they had lost the elections, thus breaking party ranks.
When APNU selected its parliamentary list for the 12th Parliament last month, the JFAP was not given a seat. The PNCR took 22 of the 31 seats for itself and sidelined the other parties in the APNU.
In an interview with this publication after the list was released, Savitree Sharma had accused APNU Leader David Granger and the PNC of using and discarding the smaller parties. Mrs Sharma had said that as a member of the APNU, their party was never consulted in the crafting of the list and several correspondences to the PNC went unanswered.

Exodus
This is the second party to leave APNU in recent weeks. Last month, the Working People’s Alliance also withdrew from the coalition. Former party Chair Tabitha Sarabo-Halley’s selection for Parliament by APNU/AFC played a critical role in the WPA’s fallout with its coalition partner.
In a letter announcing the party’s decision to leave the coalition, Ogunseye had criticised the lack of consultation. According to Ogunseye, Sarabo-Halley was selected without any consultation with the WPA.
In the letter, Ogunseye explained that the WPA requested that the names of its two nominees for Parliament and the Region Four Regional Democratic Council seats be removed from the APNU’s list.
The WPA had also laid out the conditions for reconciliation with the APNU/AFC. These conditions had included the WPA being granted the right to choose who it will send to Parliament and that the recommendations of the Corbin report be implemented.
At the time, the WPA had stipulated that these conditions must be met within the next two months in order for it to reconsider its decision to leave. When asked by this publication recently whether the APNU/AFC had reached out to his party, however, Ogunseye said that it was “early days yet.”
APNU was formed to contest the 2011 General and Regional Elections consisting of the PNC and several other parties. With WPA and JFAP gone, only the Guyana Action Party (GAP), the Guyana Association of Local Authorities (GALA), the Guyana National Congress (GNC), the Guyana People’s Partnership (GPP), the Guyana Youth Congress (GYC), the Justice for All Party (JFAP), the National Democratic Front (NDF) and the National Front Alliance (NFA) are left. (G3)