As it approaches two years since the May 11, 2015, General and Regional Elections, the Alliance For Change (AFC) has appointed a special Cummingsburg Accord Review Committee (CARC) to identify areas that need strengthening.
The CARC has been tasked with studying the Cummingsburg Accord and identifying areas which may require strengthening and updating along with discussion and negotiation with Coalition partner, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), the party said.
The decision was taken at its second National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting for 2017 `ahosted on Saturday, (April 29, 2017), at the Egbert Benjamin Conference Centre in Linden, Region 10.
The party noted that the accord is a sunset agreement which requires early review with a view to the Local Government Elections of 2019 and General and Regional Elections in 2020.
The Cummingsburg Accord is a historic agreement which was the platform for the APNU+AFC Coalition coming to government in 2015; it has served as a guide to the Coalition partners in government. According to AFC Leader, Raphael Trotman, “there has been good faith and a strong sense of mutual respect on both sides.”
“The CARC has been tasked with widely consulting with the party’s members and stakeholders to listen to their views and recommendations and examining the agreement itself and present to the party’s NEC, at its next meeting, a preliminary report on the areas, which in its view, requires further examination,” Trotman explained. He said the party is keen on ensuring that it prepares adequately and comprehensively for future elections.
The committee comprises of Dr. Vincent Adams. Dr. Rohan Somar, Marlon Williams, David Patterson, Joel Edmond and representatives of the party’s youth arm and women’s arm. The members will appoint a chairperson from among themselves.
The party engaged in discussions on a number of high-level matters.
During its 5th Biennial Conference on Saturday, January 28, 2017, former General Secretary of the Party, David Patterson noted that “not every element of the Cummingsburg Accord has functioned as the framers intended and a number of issues have arisen that needs to be addressed in an effort to enhance its effectiveness.”
One of the issues highlighted is a weakness in the document itself which is “the silence on the coalition would treat with the Local Government Elections (LGE).” According to Patterson, the coalition partners were unable to, despite some effort, reach an equitable political arrangement which led to the less than satisfactory outcomes for those elections.
The party’s NEC comprises the Leader, Chairman, Vice Chairperson, General Secretary, Treasurer, Elder Statesman/Political Advisor, 12 elected members and five co-opted members.
Representatives from all ten administrative regions attended the meeting along with representatives from the Diaspora, Women For Change and Youth For Change on Saturday, April 29, 2017.
The meeting, the party said, was entirely funded by the host region, Region 10 Regional Management Committee (RMC) under the chairmanship of Mr. Tracey Johnson.
