“No comment to make” – Ramjattan on President’s PM rejection

President David Granger, this morning, told reporters that he is yet to decide on who is running mate is although the Alliance For Change (AFC) announced Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan as the Coalition’s Prime Ministerial candidate.

“I know what I am going to do. 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,” the President said.

Meanwhile, when contacted, Ramjattan told the Guyana Times that he has “no comment to make” and promptly disconnected the call.

The AFC and APNU have been at loggerhead over the selection of a Prime Ministerial candidate since the 2015 Cummingsburg Accord gave the PM slot to the AFC.

However, the revised agreement was signed on December 24 but details surrounding the agreement is yet to be made public. The signing was done at State House, with President David Granger and Director-General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, representing APNU as the party’s Chairman and General Secretary respectively.

On the other hand, the smaller party was represented by Ramjattan (as AFC leader) and Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson (as AFC General Secretary). Harmon did confirm, following the signing of the revised Accord, that the AFC’s nominee will be the PM candidate.

Asked if the party was happy with the Accord that was signed, Harmon noted that as they signed, it was indicative of them being satisfied with the terms. According to Harmon, the Accord itself embraces principles of constitutionalism and the experiences shared over the past few years.

Ramjattan was elected at the AFC’s last National Executive Conference to be the PM candidate, effectively overthrowing current Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo.

There has been much speculation in the public domain on whether the AFC would have been able to reclaim its previous Cummingsburg Accord concessions after its showing at Local Government Elections (LGE) last year.

In October, President Granger had told reporters that Ramjattan has not been given the green light by APNU and the prime ministerial candidacy would be determined only after negotiations between the two parties.