Today marks the third anniversary of the Cummingsburg Accord, which was signed by the Alliance for Change (AFC) and the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) ahead of the May 11, 2015 elections at the Georgetown Club.
That Accord, which is popularly referred to as the “Valentine’s Day Agreement”, saw APNU’s Chairman David Granger promising to uphold the highest levels of transparency and accountability, and good governance the coalition was successful at those polls. At the launch, Mr Granger urged that Guyanese were being given a “second chance to be on the right side of history” as he said that the birth of the coalition marked a “watershed moment” in the history of the country.
Nothing that the period would usher in what he referred to as “national renewal”, Mr Granger said that the coalition as Government would adopt policies that would see “Guyanese being fully motivated to feel proud” of their country. Among other things, he promised then that AFC’s then Chairman Moses Nagamootoo would be appointed as Guyana’s Prime Minister boasting a heavy portfolio which would see him making recommendations for ministerial appointments, chairing cabinet, taking charge of domestic security and national affairs.
Mr Granger, who is the leader of the Peoples National Congress (PNC), went on record saying that the alliance marked the end of winner takes all politics in Guyana. He said “Winner takes all politics is finished in Guyana. What I am saying to you now is if this alliance wins 52 percent of the vote, we are not going to lock out 48 percent of the people…that is my promise to you.”
Also, Moses Nagamootoo, speaking the launch, said that the “dream” the two politicians who attended primary school together at Whim, Berbice had finally being realized as he insisted then that “Guyana deserves better”. He promised that if elected the coalition would ensure that there will be “no recrimination, no discrimination, no vendetta as no one had anything to fear and no one had anything to loose”. “In our father’s mansion, there is room for all,” Nagamootoo said.
Together they campaigned and as history would have it, the coalition won the 2015 General elections by a slim margin despite the protestation of the then ruling Peoples Progressive Party, which raised a list of legitimate concerns about fraudulent Statements of Polls and other irregularities.
Since coming to office, the coalition, which campaigned heavily on ending corruption, the reformation of Guyana’s Constitution, building national unity and running a lean and clean Government, has been less than able to accomplish key aspects of its manifesto. The past 36-months of its tenure in office has been marred by scandals and controversies.
There are countless incidents, which could be cited that can support the argument that Mr Granger’s promises, made at the signing of the Valentine’s Agreement, have already been broken.
Nagamootoo or the AFC has not been treated fairly as he continues to function as the chief minister in the Granger’s Government without a clear or serious gazette portfolio. The AFC, which had hoped to deliver change to Guyana, ended up three years later, being one of the most compromised and changed political entities. It has lost considerable political support because of its inability and ineffective to stop the implementation of highly unpopular and irrational Government and coalition policies, which has seen the return of PNC-ism including the dismissal of thousands of sugar workers, the repainting in yellow and green of State House and other buildings across the country, the implementation of a series of brut and harsh tax measures on the poor, the militarisation of the State/Government, and the dismissals of hundreds of young professionals and Amerindians from the public service and Government programmes in general.
What is most unfortunate too is that the APNU and AFC have not managed to formally meet to evaluate the state of the Accord they inked to date despite the public relations stunts being pulled by the AFC and supported by the President to conceal the cracks on their union. This seems to have been the coalition of convienence from the beginning and the AFC died just as Valentine did for a lesser worthy cause.
Indeed, today those who voted for the coalition, are now watching Guyana’s economy slide into a recessionary phase and with the coalition making a mockery of this country’s democracy and constitution time and time again.
