With the looming vacancies of two A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Parliamentary seats, Representative of the List of Candidates, David Granger, would have to extract names from the APNU+AFC list submitted to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to fill those vacancies.
However, this can only be done after Parliament Office writes him.
This was explained by Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, in an interview with this publication.
According to Nadir, Parliament Office would only write Granger once actual letters of resignation for the relevant Parliamentarians are received.
“We have to write them…we have to write the Representative of the List. When a resignation comes to the Speaker, then the Speaker writes to the Representative of the List for nominees,” Nadir explained.
It has been reported that both APNU Member of Parliament Nicolette Henry and former Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon have submitted letters of intent to resign. In Henry’s case, hers is supposed to take effect from March 31, while Harmon’s is supposed to take effect from March 15.
According to Nadir, there is a difference between a letter of resignation and a letter of intent to resign.
“There might be semantics, but saying I intend to resign at a certain date doesn’t say that I have resigned, or I am resigning effective March 10,” Nadir said, adding that Parliament Office would write the Representative of the List after the resignation is received.
The Speaker further explained that after the Parliament Office writes to the Representative of the List, the time it takes for the appointment of an Opposition Leader would depend on various factors. As he put it, “there’s no timeframe (for electing an Opposition Leader). It can happen very fast, it can happen less fast…”
It had been explained by PNC/R Chairman Shurwayne Holder at a recent press conference that even as Harmon’s resignation is expected to take effect this month, the party still has a list of possible candidates to shortlist before making a final decision.
Holder had said that there is a “long list” of persons which can possibly replace Harmon in the National Assembly. No one had been shortlisted as at then, and he could not indicate how many persons were being considered for the position.
“It’s a process. We have to wait until Mr Harmon resigns, and we’ll take it from there. As I have said, we have a number of names, a long list. In terms of who goes to Parliament, the Central Executive has got to make that decision. We have to discuss internally and come up with the most suitable person. There will be no discrimination in that process,” the Chairman told the media.
The PNCR has said it has already engaged other parties in the A Partnership For National Unity (APNU) and its coalition partner, the Alliance For Change, on the ascension of PNC Leader Aubrey Norton to the position of Opposition Leader.
“The party had made a decision that the party leader will become the Leader of the Opposition. This is where we are with that…It’s a process, and much of it is in the public domain already. We had consultations with APNU and AFC. As far as I am concerned, that’s a done deal. We await March 31, when there is a vacancy, and then we take it from there,” the Chairman had also divulged.
