APNU’s parliamentary leader secretive about PNCR membership, plays down party leadership prospects

Last Updated on Saturday, 15 November 2025, 10:43 by Writer

A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) parliamentary leader, Dr Terrence Campbell on Friday refused to say when he became a member of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and shrugged off suggestions that he was being prepared for leadership of the party.

He confirmed that he is a member of the PNCR’s Alberttown Group, but party sources said that group has not yet met to consider his membership registration that was done at the party’s Congress Place headquarters, Sophia.

While Dr Campbell initially said he could not remember the exact date when he joined the PNCR he conceded that he was a “new member of the PNC”. He made it clear later in the news conference that he would not disclose when he joined that party because it was an internal matter, not a matter for public consumption at this point. “I’m declining to say exactly when I joined the party but let me repeat, my focus is not on leadership of the party but doing the work that needs to be done,” he said

He shrugged of questions about whether he would accept nomination to contest for the post of PNCR Leader, instead saying that his vision was “blinkered” in the direction of ensuring that APNU is a “vigorous opposition” by holding the government accountable in “every single area”.

Dr Campbell also dismissed queries about whether he was refusing to release the date of this PNCR membership for fear that he would be regarded as a “just come” if he decides to contest for that party’s leadership. “If my focus is not on leadership of the party, then that can hardly be the reason that I do not want to disclose the date of my membership,” he said. He suggested that no questions were asked of recent entrants to the PPP.

Dr Campbell, a well-known city businessman, had walked away from A New and United Guyana (ANUG) in 2019 after then APNU+Alliance For Change supporters had called for a boycott of the fast food businesses for which his company had obtained the franchises. “Today a knife was stuck into my back by my own people.,” he had said then.

At that time, he had said that he helped finance the PNCR/APNU/APNU-AFC to the tune of millions of dollars. He had also stepped aside from a now defunct constitutional reform pressure group named Reform, Inform, Sustain Educate (RISE).’

But on Friday, he said “My blood was always green. I went to Bishop’s High School and it’s greener now that I’m a member of the PNC,” he said.

He added that he was fully committed to the ideals, goals and objectives of the PNCR “at this point in time.”