As A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) mark three years in office today, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo has said that one of the major achievements made by the coalition Government is bridging racial divide and promoting social cohesion among Guyanese.
In addressing, at the National Cultural Centre, a large gathering for Social Cohesion Day on Wednesday, the first Vice President sought to defend his Government by stating that several successes were made since 2015. This was a major campaign promise made by the APNU+AFC coalition Government.
While the Social Cohesion Ministry was created to promote this agenda, there isn’t much success that has been recorded. But Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo again defended the Government, stating, “In this land of six races, for the first time
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo
ever, we voted into office a Government comprising six parties. So Guyana is not only multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious, she is also multi-party, with a rainbow coalition that has the image with various ethnic and cultural strands of our society.”
Nagamootoo boasted that political dominance by one single party was ended in 2015 when the APNU and AFC took office, and that their accession to office has led the way to national unity and togetherness.
“I mention that election not to drag politics into this event, but only to tell you that social cohesion is better promoted in societies where leadership is inclusive. Such broad leadership helps to encourage the willingness of members of society, especially a divided society,” he added.
However, despite the Prime Minister’s boastful comments, the AFC has had several internal fights with the APNU over leadership positions. Some of the issues faced between the two parties have also made rounds in the public domain, and have been topics for discussion by columnists, among others.
Only recently, the AFC’s National Executive Council urged that party’s Leader, Raphael Trotman, to formally write APNU Leader President David Granger requesting a meeting with him.
The meeting was aimed at discussing the idea of contesting the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE) as a collective, and other burning matters, such as the revision of the Cummingsburg Accord.
Trotman had announced the possibility of the AFC breaking away from the APNU for this year’s LGE. The AFC leader went as far as to reveal that there was a strong body of opinion within the party that the AFC should go it alone, which may have been prompted over delays in regard to reviewing the Cummingsburg Accord.
In mid-November 2017, the top leadership of the AFC had decided to revise its governing agreement with coalition partner APNU. This decision was taken after the AFC – the smaller of the two factions forming the Government – had been accused of being coerced by its larger partner.
There have been reports that the AFC has not been too comfortable with the current Cummingsburg Accord, which sets how the two coalition partners would divide up the Ministries.
Under the current configuration of Government, the AFC has received the portfolios of Prime Minister, Public Security Minister, Public Infrastructure Minister, and the Agriculture Minister, among other things.
The AFC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) has mandated that the party’s leadership formally write to APNU with regard to the review and revision of the Cummingsburg Accord.
The Cummingsburg Accord has a lifespan of a minimum of three years and a maximum of five years, and has been focused primarily on the General and Regional Elections. As such, President Granger has said, the AFC has several options, including allowing the agreement to proceed as is until its expiration in two years’ time.
The AFC has, of recent, come under fire for the perceived submissive role it played when it joined forces with APNU. In 2017, top leadership of the AFC had decided to revise its governing agreement with APNU.
However, despite this perceived success, the current Government has been called out for its allegedly blatant acts of corruption and nepotism. The scandals range from the renting of a multi-million-dollar drug bond to the D’Urban Park controversy, and several others.
