Granger denies WPA sidelined

President David Granger on Wednesday denied that the coalition government has sidelined the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) and failed to consult the party prior to the appointment of Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine as the education minister.

The WPA, a member of the APNU+AFC coalition, on Monday complained about the failure of the government to consult it since taking office and expressed the view that the party is being sidelined.

“The WPA believes that when it looks at the way the relationship unfolded, the WPA was more or less sidelined.

There is no question about that…we feel that the end result, any objective examination will force you to come to that conclusion,” executive member, Tacuma Ogunseye told a press conference during which another member David Hinds also adopted a similar position.

The WPA’s concerns were raised with Granger at a meeting at State House on Saturday. APNU will also be meeting next month at which time the issues raised with Granger will be addressed.

On Wednesday, Granger shortly after swearing in Dela Britton as the Chair of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) was asked to respond to the claims made by the WPA.

In responding he said “we have not sidelined any party. As you know on the 15th July 2011, the APNU was established and there are five parties…I was very careful in 2015 to ensure that every party in the APNU is represented in the National Assembly…every party in the APNU is represented in the National Assembly and has a position”.

Those parties making up APNU are the Guyana Action Party (GAP), Justice For All Party (JFAP), the National Front Alliance (NFA), WPA and the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR). APNU aligned itself with the Alliance for Change (AFC) and entered the 2015 elections as a coalition.

Granger said that he ensured that all the parties in APNU were represented. Those chosen were Minister Keith Scott who represents the NFA; Minister Jaipaul Sharma, JFAP; Minister Sydney Allicock, GAP and Roopnaraine, WPA. “So every party in APNU is represented. There has been no sidelining of anyone of the parties”, he said, adding that he had the option to make a selection after the May, 2015 elections and he made a selection “based on my commitment to inclusionary democracy and to ensure that all members of the partnership were represented”.

Asked if he is concerned about the allegation of sidelining coming from the WPA, Granger said that he runs a coalition and as such does not “attack my partners”. He said that he has not expressed any concern nor has he reacted to the statements made by WPA but “I know where we are going, I know the importance of the coalition to social cohesion and to inclusionary democracy and to the future of this country”.

Granger said that he doesn’t believe that the business of the coalition could be efficiently and effectively transacted in the media. “I don’t do business like that”, he said.

Last week’s abrupt announcement of the removal of Roopnaraine and his subsequent reassignment to the Ministry of the Presidency with specific responsibility for the public service has raised eyebrows. The WPA during its press conference on Monday said that it was never consulted and only knew of the decision on the day before it was made public. It also stated that there was no consultation prior to Roopnaraine being appointed education minister.

“No, the WPA was not consulted and we are saying this for the very first time. The WPA was not consulted after the coalition won. There was no meeting between the WPA and the coalition or the President in which it was said to us `look we are now in government, the WPA is entitled to one minister…who is your nominee?’ We were not afforded that opportunity,” Hinds had said in response to a question before adding that the party would have chosen Roopnaraine to represent the party in Cabinet but was never consulted on the matter.

Asked on Wednesday why political parties were not consulted before ministers were named, Granger stopped short of asking the WPA to explain itself while making it clear that party representatives were nominated after consultation and that Roopnaraine was the WPA representative.

“I cannot imagine that members of six parties would have been nominated without the parties being consulted. I think you better ask very carefully how that allegation came to be made”, he said.

Granger said that as far as the AFC is concerned there is an agreement with APNU and the AFC nominated the persons who are now in the Cabinet. “It had to be consulted. In fact specific ministries were agreed to in the accord”, he said, adding that as far as the other parties are concerned there were nominees of the parties.

“Dr. Roopnaraine was the prime ministerial candidate at my side throughout the 2011 campaign. He sat down in Parliament throughout the tenth parliament…we campaigned together so he was also seen to be and deemed to be the representative of the Working People’s Alliance.

He doesn’t belong to the PNC…the AFC, he belong to the WPA so you better ask them”, he said.