Amid the recent shake-up in the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) camp, Chairman Shurwayne Holder has indicated that there is no plan to recall any of the current Members of Parliament.
PNC Chairman Shurwayne Holder
He told the media during a press conference on Tuesday, “We don’t have any plans at this time to recall any Member of Parliament.”
Questions were raised amid the resignation of former Education Minister, Nicolette Henry from the National Assembly. Last month, Joseph Harmon – who lost in the Party Leader race, also resigned as the Opposition Leader amid mounting pressure from the PNCR.
After indicating her intention of resigning from the party, Former MP Simona Broomes also officially submitted a letter to the party to that effect. The former Junior Natural Resources Minister was among 10 persons contesting for chairmanship of the party. The internal elections saw Aubrey Norton being elected the new leader. It was after this development that talks surfaced about her resignation.
“We have received a formal letter from Comrade Broomes. We’re dealing with that. That’s an internal matter and we wouldn’t want to put too much out there on it. But we did receive a formal letter from comrade Broomes,” Holder told the press.
Meanwhile, Holder shared that Norton has undertaken efforts to engage persons who would have “moved away” from the party’s apparatus. Harmon, he said, will remain involved at the parliamentary level.
“Since our ascension to office, the leader has taken an approach of inclusiveness. We’ve been reaching out to those persons that have moved away from the party for some time. We’ve been reaching across the aisle to persons who would have been on different teams during the congress. I’m not aware if any other high-profile persons would have resigned.”
The Chairman also indicated, “Mr Harmon would not be excluded. We have been reaching out to him and others. We expect that he will play some role at the parliamentary level. He is still a parliamentarian…He has a role to play and we’re discussing that internally.”
Harmon had been adamant that he should remain in the position, which was given to him by former PNCR Leader, David Granger. Harmon was also not re-elected to the party’s Central Executive Committee – the highest decision-making body of the party.
Harmon’s resignation as Opposition Leader came after he also stepped down as General Secretary of the APNU, while Granger resigned as the party’s Chairman. APNU’s chairmanship was taken up by Norton.
A few weeks ago, Speaker of the National Assembly Manzoor Nadir announced that he would meet with the APNU/AFC on the election of a new Opposition Leader. AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan had informed this publication that while his party will continue to meet with its coalition partner, the appointment of the new Opposition Leader is “exclusively” an APNU issue.
Meanwhile, Opposition MP, Deputy Speaker Lenox Shuman, who is the representative of the joinder list which comprises of his party, the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), as well as A New and United Guyana (ANUG) and The New Movement (TNM), had also indicated previously that he would not be participating in that process to elect the new Leader of the Opposition. (G12)
