Executive Member of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) Dr Rupert Roopnaraine disagrees with some his colleagues who believe the long-running political party should consider exiting the coalition government.
“I can tell you from that start that they would have a hard time convincing me that this is a good idea. I think that the coalition with all of its difficulties is the way forward for us…I think that our best bet as a party is to work more closely, more harmoniously within the coalition,” Dr Roopnaraine said when asked by the News Room on Wednesday.
A few days ago, a leading member of the WPA, Tacuma Ogunseye, suggested that it is time the party deliberate on whether it makes “political sense” to remain in A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), a five-party coalition which joined with the AFC to contest and win the 2015 general elections.
Ogunseye’s comments were in direct correlation with the firing of another WPA Member, Dr David Hinds, as a columnist with the State newspaper Guyana Chronicle.
Ogunseye, in a letter to the editor over the weekend, stated “If the WPA cannot be respected in the coalition and government that it helped to bring to power and is unable to defend its own, its members and the people’s interests in keeping with its stated principles and objectives against political bullyism and dictatorial behaviour, then thought must be given to its future direction and role on Guyana’s political landscape.”
Another sore issue for the WPA was the removal of Dr Roopnaraine as Minister of Education without consultation with the party.
During a press conference in June 2017, following the incident, the WPA Executive said it is being sidelined by the Government.
But Dr Roopnaraine, who is now Minister of Public Service under the Ministry of the Presidency, said he has no problem with his new role and recommended that talks about pulling out from the coalition should be done at a meeting with the executives of the APNU.
However, the APNU Executives have not formally met in a long time and Dr Roopnaraine believes this lack of engagement is contributing to problems in the Coalition.
“We have not been able to have a meeting of APNU Executives which is where I believe this discussion belongs and I hope we can convene such a meeting soon so these problems could be ventilated there,” the WPA Executive stated.
