APNU+AFC campaign launch set for January 3
Over two weeks after the partners in the APNU+AFC governing coalition reached consensus on a revised Cummingsburg Accord, their electoral pact for next year’s elections, there is no word on when it will be formally signed though it has been indicated that the campaign launch will be on January 3rd, 2020.
On the APNU Guyana’s Facebook page, campaign coordinator Christopher Jones has created an event for the “Official 2020 Elections Campaign launch of the APNU+AFC.” According to the details provided, it will commence at 4pm on Friday, January 3rd, 2020 at Durban Park, Georgetown. No other details were available. Meanwhile, it is not clear when the revised Cummingsburg Accord will be finalised and formally signed. Following a meeting between APNU and AFC on November 21st, a verbal agreement was reached between leaders David Granger and Khemraj Ramjattan and work began on putting the details into “black and white.” The deal brokered will see APNU getting 70 per cent of parliamentary seats and the AFC 30 per cent but they will get to name the prime minister. The AFC will also be allotted five ministerial positions, less than the six they currently hold.
Additionally, it was agreed that President Granger would decide on the list of Members of Parliament.
When Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency and PNCR Executive Joseph Harmon was asked about the finalisation of the revised accord recently, he said that the document was still being crafted and it was taking time because “the devil is in the details.”
Meantime, it is also unclear if the coalition will unveil its manifesto at the January 3rd campaign launch or if the manifesto launch will be a separate event.
Granger has said that the coalition’s manifesto will outline sound strategies for development focusing on a 10-year period that puts education and human resource development as its main focus. In recent months, the president has been underscoring that quality education has always been a top priority and that he eagerly awaits 2020 to launch his ‘Decade of Development’ programme, where the constitutional right of free education from nursery to university will be enforced.