Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Aubrey Norton and Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC) Nigel Hughes both feel his party can win the next general and regional elections independent of the other. The elections are constitutionally due next year. The PNCR, which is the major party in the A Partnership of National Unity (APNU) contested the 2015 and 2020 Elections in a coalition with the AFC.
The back and forth of going alone or not going alone between Hughes and Norton have sparked conversations for or against each contention, including the wisdom or lack thereof. Since July, after their respective party’s conferences, the two have been verbalising the inconsistencies in the public.
“There is no competition between Aubrey and I.”
Hughes, elected Leader of the AFC for the first time, previously refuted public conversation that him and Norton are competing against each other for the presidency of Guyana. Speaking at a Buxton Emancipation event on July 31, Hughes said, “Brothers and sisters, I want to leave you with a message. There is no competition between Aubrey and I. None! You can take that to the bank. There is no competition.”
As one analyst asked, “if there is no competition between the two, why is each talking about running for the presidency without the other?” The relationship between the AFC and the APNU is estranged. When the Cummingsburg Accord expired on December 31, 2022, which sealed the coalition relationship to contest the 2020 Elections, it was not renewed.
The AFC, at its Seventh Annual Conference held June 11, 2022 voted not to renew the Accord when it expired. In July 2022, after the AFC conference, then Chairman Mrs. Cathy Hughes told Village Voice News, that while the party did not exactly have the optimal relationship they had hoped for in the APNU+AFC coalition, the party believes in coalition politics.
However, leading up to the expiration of the Accord, speculation was rife whether the two sides will renew the agreement or work out a similar relationship. There was no public overture to do so by Norton, then new Leader of the Opposition and APNU.
“If the AFC decides to go, so be it.”
In November 2022 when the media questioned Norton about the relationship with the AFC and the future of the APNU+AFC coalition, he said “If the AFC decides to go, so be it. We don’t intend to beg anyone to stay in the coalition.”
One analyst told this publication he wished that the Leader of the Opposition had taken the initiative to renew the agreement. “Mr. Norton’s comment that if the AFC decides to go alone it won’t matter to him did not help the situation, and was seen as a disinclination to continue with the coalition.”
In December 2022, at the expiration of the Accord, Village Voice News interviewed Shadow Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Roysdale Forde S.C, about possible future scenario(s). He told this publication the parliamentary coalition remains intact given that they contested the 2020 Elections as representatives of one list and for the life of this 12th Parliament that relationship remains.
Going alone or not
Last week the two leaders were, once again, sending conflicting messages. Hughes, speaking at the AFC’s press conference, said the party can win the next election, “alone…[or] in some other combination.”
Norton also said words to similar effect. Speaking at his party’s press conference last week Norton said the PNC can beat the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) at the next elections, alone or with other parties. In July Norton said the party can do it alone. There is no reason to believe his position has shifted and, if so, whether it would remain constant.
In 2015, the APNU+AFC, as a coalition, unseated the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) that was in government for 23 consecutive years.
Conversations by man in the street about Guyana’s future and the back and forth between the AFC and PNCR leaders some have expressed hope that better sense will prevail. Veteran trade unionist Lincoln Lewis in his Eye on Guyana column, Sunday, called for the two leaders to get their act together and not lose sight of history, Guyana’s political reality and the people’s expectation of them.
