Granger says he would choose his Prime Minister

Incumbent President David Granger is adamant that he will choose his running mate for the March 02, 2020 general and regional elections, noting that the nominee will have to be subject to scrutiny.

“I am a prudent and wise leader and I will make the choice which I feel will deliver the best results, the best outcome to the people of Guyana. My objective and I am sure the objective of the six parties in the coalition would be to ensure that Guyana gets the best and we’re working on that,” Granger, who is also the leader of the six-party coalition, A Partnership of National Unity (APNU), said to the media Wednesday.

The Alliance For Change (AFC) which joined with APNU to win the 2015 elections, has already selected its leader and current Minister of National Security Khemraj Ramjattan as the Prime Ministerial Candidate based on the Cummingsburg Accord which formed the coalition.

The AFC has already made it clear that Ramjattan must be the Prime Ministerial Candidate or there will be no coalition with the APNU for the March polls.

The PM candidate is a contentious issue for both sides and saw the AFC withdrawing from talks a few weeks ago with APNU as the accord is being reviewed.

The President on Wednesday said that nothing in the accord should be in conflict with the constitution, including the Chairmanship of Cabinet and the selection of the Prime Minister.

But the AFC’s Treasurer, Dominic Gaskin had noted that he sees no clash with the constitution if there is an agreement before the elections on who the President will appoint. That’s what happened in 2015.

The constitution states that once a President is elected, he/she has the authority to select a Prime Minister; President Granger on Wednesday acknowledged that “we can have an agreement outside of the constitution that the Prime Ministerial Candidate or nominees for the Prime Ministerialship could be made and I would make the choice.”

“That is why at this stage, I don’t want to become involved in personalities, once the principle is agreed, we can move forward. I don’t want to name names now.”

“I don’t want to lose, I want to make sure that we win and once we win, the country is well-governed…Whoever the nominee is will be subject to scrutiny, and that announcement will come in due course,” the Head-of-State told the media at the sidelines of an event held at the Ministry of the Presidency.

The talks between the APNU and AFC continues Wednesday between Granger and Ramjattan.

“There has been some indication or some desire or anticipation that the talks will be concluded before December 1 and I am hopeful that we realize that objective,” the President said.