Norton calls Van West Charles “ex colleague”

Last Updated on Sunday, 8 October 2023, 15:06 by Denis Chabrol

Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Aubrey Norton is distancing his party from party member Dr Richard Van West Charles who is tipped to become Guyana’s next Ambassador to Venezuela.

Addressing a flag raising ceremony in the forecourt of Congress Place to mark the PNCR’s 66th anniversary, Mr Norton highlighted a number of sectoral achievements whenever that party has been in power.  Among them was the water sector about which the PNCR Leader declined to mention Dr Van West Charles, the then Chief Executive Officer under the PNCR-led coalition administration between 2015 and 2020.

“Whatever we think about an ex-colleague, we did well in water. We ensured that Guyanese were getting water across the country 24/7,” Mr Norton said.

The Guyana government is awaiting Venezuela’s approval of Dr Van West Charles, a Cuba-trained medical doctor, as Georgetown’s top diplomatic envoy to Caracas. The Guyana Embassy in Venezuela has been without an Ambassador since December 2019 when the then David Granger-led administration had terminated the contract of Ambassador Cheryl Miles and a number of 0ther envoys. She had been appointed in 2016.

In October 2011, Dr Van West Charles,a son-in-law of late PNCR Founder-Leader Forbes Burnham, had joined the Alliance For Change (AFC). In December 2021, he had been a candidate for the leadership of the PNCR, and later fell out with Mr Norton.

Dr Van West Charles, who had said the 2020 general and regional elections process had been corrupted and could not have yielded credible election results, has been enjoying cozy relations with President Irfaan Ali who he has described as “my friend,my political colleague.”

He once served as a Health Minister under the Burnham-led PNCR administration.