Newly elected Chairman of Region Four Daniel Seeram has added his voice to the fiasco surrounding the election of Samuel Sandy as the Vice Chairman of the Region, saying that he was not privy to any agreement by the leaders of the APNU+AFC Coalition on who the position should have gone to.
The Chairman said he was not aware of any changes to the binding agreement – the Cummingsburg Accord – which speaks to the Vice Chairmanship.
“On the day of voting, I had not seen any agreement to such an extent…neither did I hear of any,” Seeram told reporters Thursday during his visit with squatters in Chateau Margot on the East Coast of Demerara.
It was Seeram who cast the last vote that allowed Mr Sandy to be elected to the position in the face of a tie between the APNU nominee and a nominee from the People’s Progressive Party.
That vote resulted in a major fallout between the AFC and APNU with the AFC insisting that there was a prior agreement that the Vice-Chair position would go to an AFC Councillor.
The AFC had nominated Neilson McKenzie but only five of its own Councillors voted for him; the failure to secure support from the APNU resulted in David Patterson resigning as the AFC General Secretary.
Even with several senior members on both sides speaking on the issue and expressing disappointment and regret, Seeram believes talks of a fallout are being exaggerated.
“The fallout that is being purported is being hugely blown up. Both leaderships will meet and resolve this issue,” Seeram said.
The Chairman said at his office of the Regional Democratic Council there is no fallout between his Councillors.
“We are committed and we will push forward with our agenda of the region.”
But exchanges in a WhatsApp group clearly shows that there were heated disagreement and diverging views on the issue.
Seeram did acknowledge that he was privy to a preliminary discussion on the Vice-Chairman position but refused to say what was the outcome of those discussions.
He would only say that it took place among both APNU and AFC Councillors.
The Alliance For Change has since called an emergency meeting of its Executive Members but it has not commented on the way forward on Patterson’s resignation.
I did not see any Agreement!
I did not see the SOPS!
I did not notice Clairmont Mingo’s contortions!
I thought Lolo was just doing his job. After all it is a hereditary, constitutionally appointed position just above the President.
I did see 1000’s of dead persons voting. I forgot to say anything.
I did see 1000’s of people leaving the Country and then phoning back for cuzin Persaud to vote for them. The Police proved that by sending a letter out. Possibly some of the people were also dead and voted twice ….all for PPP.
Signed: Another innocent Coalition member.