Latest update March 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 18, 2019 News
The Alliance For Change (AFC) denies it is in a weakened state and remains confident that it can still command the number of ministerial seats from the Coalition if it enters government again.
Questions linger over the bargaining power of AFC, seen as the third force, after the recent shock no-confidence vote from one of its own parliamentarians, Charrandass Persaud, which saw the Coalition Government toppled, and also from its performance in the recent local government elections.
The Coalition Government took a drubbing in those elections.
Although the AFC did not contest all constituencies and has been insisting so, its leverage on what it can bring to the table are very real issues, which will come up when talks for an agreement comes up again with A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).
On Wednesday, AFC’s Chairman, Khemraj Ramjattan, banked on contesting early election as a coalition partner again.
During a press conference, assessing Persaud’s actions and the implications, Ramjattan, the Public Security Minister and a Vice President, was convinced that his party has not lost support and remains in a “strong position”.
He said that AFC has a strong case to ask for the same number of ministries, as there is an agreement between the coalition partners that remains very much in place.
That agreement, the Cummingsburg Accord, spells out how the AFC and APNU are to operate in government.
According to Ramjattan, there is growing support in AFC’s base, with activists ready to do work as they felt “cheated” by what transpired in the National Assembly on December 21.
The AFC currently controls a number of powerful posts, including Natural Resources, Public Infrastructure, Agriculture, Public Security, Public Telecommunication, and of course, one of its own, Moses Nagamootoo, is the Prime Minister.
The Opposition has been boasting that the AFC has lost considerable support in Corentyne, the home area of Ramjattan and Nagamootoo.
According to the Constitution, the no-confidence motion would have triggered the holding of elections within 90 days. Any extension to the life of parliament and the government will have to come from an agreement between the Government and the Opposition.
Government has since gone to court to challenge the validity of the vote and the fact that Persaud has dual citizenship, in conflict with the Constitution, which bars Guyana parliamentarians from swearing allegiance to a foreign power.
Ramjattan posited that elections are not likely before the 90 days as there is still house-to-house registration and in any case, the administration is intending to go as far as the Caribbean Court of Justice to challenge the vote, which caused the government to fall, by one seat.
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