PNC continues to ignore meetings called by new APNU executive – APNU

The main party in the Parliamentary Opposition Coalition – the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) – said its largest member, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), has failed to attend executive meetings and continues to ignore the political body.
Back in June, APNU had elected Vincent Henry of the Guyana Action Party (GAP) – one of the small parties that formed the partnership – as the new chairman and Tabitha Sarabo-Halley as General Secretary.
This was done in the absence of the Aubrey Norton-led People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) – the largest party in the coalition, which subsequently called the APNU elections “null and void” and maintained that the PNC still holds the chairmanship position.
But in a statement on Thursday, APNU explained that the coalition parties met on June 6 and deliberated on the major issue of no meetings being held since January 25, 2022. It was noted that they were forced to go ahead with the election at that meeting after Norton failed to acknowledge two prior emails about the engagement and his non-attendance at the meeting.

According to APNU’s General Secretary, since then, two other executive meetings were held and all Executive Members including the PNCR were invited but once again, the PNC leader nor any party representative attended those engagements on July 15 and 29.
“It must be noted here that the People’s National Congress Reform is an integral part of the APNU and as we continue to prepare for the 2025 elections, we hope that the PNCR would find it necessary and important to attend meetings when those meetings are called,” the statement detailed.
Nevertheless, APNU said they took several key decisions including the fact that the Chair is to be elected for a one-year term and that there shall be no term limits as well as the fact that its Executives must meet at least once per quarter or more frequently if deemed necessary, to deliberate on any matters about the partnership.
Additionally, APNU indicated its members also decided that each Executive in the partnership is entitled to one vote on any matter that cannot be decided on by consensus while the chairman will have a casting.
But Norton has been arguing that the PNC deserves more than one vote on the Executive because it constitutes the majority of the APNU.
In fact, Norton had said the PNC is mulling contesting next year’s elections independently, noting that the political party is superior to the others in the APNU coalition.
Back in 2011, the PNCR had joined forces with GAP, the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), the Justice for All Party (JFAP), and the National Democratic Front to form APNU. Two other small parties, the Equal Rights and Justice Party and Sarabo-Halley’s Guyana Nation Builders Movement, later joined APNU in 2021.
During a radio interview last month, Norton related that while the PNC is open to coalition, the party is strong enough to contest next year’s polls alone.
The PNC-led APNU had merged with the Alliance For Change (AFC) in 2015 for the elections that year and won office. The two parties had also jointly contested in the 2020 elections but lost. The AFC then formally broke its coalition with APNU back in December 2022.
At the time, Former AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan had indicated that the two political organisations would do their political work separately but work in parliament jointly.
Last month, the newly-elected Chairman of the AFC, David Patterson, told the Guyana Times that all the possibilities are on the table as it relates to returning to the polls as a coalition in 2025. However, he noted the AFC needs to do some in-house work before officially meeting with its coalition partner to discuss their future.
Meanwhile, Norton was slated to meet the current APNU Chairman, Vincent Henry, who was optimistic that any squabbles between the two groups would be addressed. However, that July 18 meeting was never held.
Before the engagement, Henry told this newspaper that they were focusing on APNU moving forward as a coalition and readying itself to contest next year’s elections.
“We spoke one to one, more than one time. And actually, we intend to have a meeting… And work our way towards having, like I mentioned before, our objective being met,” Henry stated about his interactions with Norton.
He added, “…It’s the first time we will be meeting face-to-face. And I’m certain that we will be able to sort out whatever level of problems. I call them level because they’re not major problems that are there. And we’ll be able to move forward, again, because what else can you do? The best formula is a coalition formula.”
In Thursday’s missive, it was noted that in keeping with its second core principle, APNU will now consist of the Executive Committee, Associate Members, and Individual Members components.
“We in the APNU are convinced that a positive transformation of Guyana can only be achieved by an inclusive electoral coalition built around the political parties, organised labour, farmers’ organisations, community-based organisations, faith-based organisations, civil society bodies, and patriotic citizens committed to developing Guyana into a united, stable and prosperous nation where the wellbeing of each citizen is assured, irrespective of ethnicity, social status, gender, or religion,” the statement noted. (G-8)