Demerara Waves Online News- Guyana Riding on the Crest of Truth
Last Updated on Wednesday, 8 January 2020, 17:18 by Writer
FLASHBACK: President David Granger and Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan. In the background is Minister of State, Joseph Harmon.
General Secretary of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), Joseph Harmon says Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan will be Guyana’s next prime minister if the coalition wins the general elections in March, but President David Granger said there is a process to be followed.
“After the elections are finished? After Brigadier Granger continues to be president? It will be Khemraj Ramjattan,” Harmon told News-Talk Radio Guyana 1031. FM/Demerara Waves Online News.
Asked why the prime ministerial running mate was not stated last week when APNU+AFC launched its 2020 general elections campaign, Harmon said it was all part of a “strategy”. “Leave us, leave us, let us work our strategy. We have our thing well planned out. That’s all,” Harmon added.
On Wednesday, Granger, who is also Chairman of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR)-led APNU, told News-Talk Radio Guyana 1031. FM/Demerara Waves Online News that he has “started to campaign” with Ramjattan who has been nominated by the AFC.
“I have not named a prime ministerial candidate, but I know what I’m going to do and my partners… I reserve the right to choose and nominate a prime minister. I will nominate all ministers, including the prime minister who is my chief minister after the elections,” he said.
President David Granger and Mr. Joseph Harmon.
Sources close to the coalition have told News-Talk Radio Guyana that the coalition’s presidential candidate does not want to appear as though he has come under pressure or will be giving into the AFC’s demand to name Ramjattan as his prime ministerial candidate.
No mention was made of Ramjattan as the candidate. All of the banners only displayed Granger’s face, and the MCs always referred to him as the AFC’s leader and Minister of Public Security.
Granger and Ramjattan signed the revised Cummingsburg Accord, a political agreement between APNU and AFC, that will provide for a 70-30 split of parliamentarians win or lose. The AFC had failed to convince APNU in the negotiations to stick to the wording of the original 2015 accord that had stated explicitly that the prime minister would be the AFC’s nominee and that certain ministries would be assigned to that party.