More than two days after Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed and APNU Leader Aubrey Norton met for talks, the promised joint statement on their discussions is still to be issued.
Contacted by Kiskadee Watch, Norton said APNU had sent a draft statement to We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) and was awaiting a response.
“We sent it to them and we are awaiting their response,” Norton said.
Asked when the draft was sent, he said it was dispatched last evening.
Kiskadee Watch was unable to obtain a comment from WIN General Secretary Odessa Primus.
Mohamed and Norton met at Brandsville Suites against the backdrop of differences between the two opposition groupings over representation on the Local Government Commission (LGC), the opposition-nominated side of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and the selection of opposition scrutineers.
WIN has argued that, as the main opposition party, it should have representation on the constitutional commissions and a say in the selection of opposition scrutineers. However, the current opposition-nominated GECOM commissioners were appointed before WIN entered Parliament.
Norton has maintained that neither he nor other political leaders has the authority to remove the sitting opposition-nominated GECOM commissioners. He has said that a commissioner can leave office only through resignation, death or a constitutional change replacing the permanent commission with a temporary body.
There has also been disagreement over the appointment of opposition scrutineers. WIN has objected to the absence of its representatives among the 69 paid opposition scrutineers. Norton previously said he was prepared to discuss the matter if Mohamed withdrew WIN’s purported appointments of scrutineers.
The parties have also differed over representation on the LGC, which oversees the local government system and has responsibility for matters involving local democratic organs.
Following Monday’s meeting, Mohamed and Norton described the discussions as cordial and said a joint statement would be issued later that day setting out the areas on which agreement had been reached.
However, they emerged without agreement on the immediate way forward regarding the LGC and GECOM. Mohamed said those two matters were not discussed during the meeting.
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