Talks to revise Cummingsburg Accord ongoing – Ramjattan

– says AFC, APNU negotiators to meet today
– hoping for same arrangements as 2015

After getting off to a slow start last month, talks between the Alliance For Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) are presently underway for the revision of the Cummingsburg Accord.

This was revealed by Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, who said during a fundraising event in Richmond Hill, New York, on Sunday that a three-man team from the AFC has already started meeting their APNU counterparts.
The AFC’s team of negotiators include Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Director Dr Vince Adams, Public Infrastructure Minister and AFC General Secretary David Patterson and the Business Ministry’s Director of Manufacturing and Marketing, Dominic Gaskin.
“We met as a larger team some time ago with President Granger and his team and decided that a smaller collective of three and five on their side will meet to trash out what is to be a revision of the Cummingsburg Accord,” Ramjattan said.
“The presidential candidate must come from the APNU side; the prime ministerial candidate must come from the AFC side. There must be certain arrangements that will be very close or exact to what we signed in 2015.”
Ramjattan reminded that the AFC joining with APNU in 2015 was responsible for their victory at the polls. He is, therefore, hopeful that the same arrangements will be retained, revealing that another meeting is scheduled for today.
“I believe the two sides understand the necessity of having an agreement. The minute we crack up and do not have an agreement, that will be a huge political development. That can be disastrous for our Government,” Ramjattan stated.
Prior to the General and Regional Elections of 2015, APNU and the AFC signed the Cummingsburg Accord that stipulated conditions for the two parties to contest the elections as one.
But throughout this marriage, the AFC was criticised, especially by the parliamentary Opposition, for what many describe as the submissive role it has been playing since joining forces with APNU.
Decisions such as the closure of sugar estates, which put thousands of sugar workers out of jobs, have gone unchallenged and even been supported by the AFC. This is despite the fact that the Ministry of Agriculture is held by a party member, Noel Holder.
In addition, there has been the strategic reallocation of responsibilities away from Ministries headed by AFC officials, to other Ministries. There is also the fact that despite the Cummingsburg Accord stipulating the Prime Minister, in this case Moses Nagamootoo, has responsibility for chairing Cabinet and domestic issues, this was not followed through.
Questions have been raised by analysts whether the PNC would offer AFC the same terms it offered them in 2015 when the accord was first signed. These questions took on a life of their own after the AFC’s wretched performance in Local Government Elections (LGE) in 2018.
After Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan’s selection as the AFC’s prime ministerial candidate in waiting, Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson had intimated that APNU is duty-bound to accept Ramjattan as President David Granger’s running mate as long as the Cummingsburg Accord is in effect.
But despite the AFC choosing Ramjattan, the PNC has shown a dogged preference for the incumbent, Moses Nagamootoo. This has manifested in APNU officials making public statements in support of the Prime Minister.
PNC heavyweight and Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence recently stated publicly that while AFC has elected Ramjattan as its next prime ministerial candidate, APNU and AFC have not met on this new development.
The AFC top leadership had, in mid-November of 2017, moved to revise its governing agreement with its majority coalition partner. This made little headway and talks of revising the agreement petered out after the AFC’s showing at the LGE, where they failed to win a single Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC).
It had previously appeared as though talks between the two parties were stalled. A meeting that was supposed to have been held last month between the two coalition partners was cancelled, with APNU sending out a release to say that documents were exchanged and will be perused.