Leader of The New Movement (TNM), Dr. Asha Kissoon had joined forces with A New and United Guyana (ANUG) in 2023 but her membership has since been revoked.
This is according to Executive Member of ANUG, Kian Jabour who on Monday criticized Dr. Kissoon over her refusal to give up the parliamentary seat she currently enjoys after three small parties agreed to merge their votes to secure the single seat.
While Dr. Kissoon has refused to comment, sources close to her have said that while discussions were ongoing for TNM to join forces with ANUG, the decision was never formalized.
Jabour, however, was certain that TNM was already dissolved and its membership would come under the ANUG’s umbrella to contest the 2025 elections.
The News Room understands that TNM, ANUG, and The Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), the three parties in the joinder, were all in discussions to come under one umbrella – ANUG – for the 2025 elections.
“TNM had such a poor showing at the last election… Ms. Kissoon on her decision decided that she and her team, they would dissolve TNM and get on board with ANUG.
“We were happy to do it… we felt more players, stronger people we were more than happy to have TNM’s entire team on abroad,” Jabour told the News Room in an interview on Monday.
Dr. Kissoon currently serves as the Deputy Speaker in Parliament as leader of the TNM but should vacate the seat for an ANUG representative, Althia King, to become an MP before parliament is dissolved for the 2025 elections, according to the agreement.
Lennox Shuman, Leader of the JLP, occupied the seat from September 01, 2020, to March 31, 2023 – a total of 31 months.
If Dr. Kissoon had resigned in November 2023 as claimed by ANUG, she would have occupied the seat for eight months. To date, she has been an MP for 11 months.
“As time came up to February 29, she dropped me a line and said ‘There is no easy way to say this, I am not leaving parliament.
“She let me know that she still has things she needs to get done, I’m not sure what they are.
“As soon as Lennox Shuman resigned, Asha Kissoon stepped in… at that time Asha Kissoon was actually in the process of becoming a member of ANUG,” Jabour said.
He asserted that the process for Dr. Kissoon to become a member of ANUG was completed and said that membership has now been revoked.
“She has already been removed as a member… the executive made a decision and she is no longer a part of ANUG in any way shape or form.
“It’s just a lot of dishonesty on her part… ANUG takes pride in knowing that we have stayed true to our promises,” Jabour added.
Persons close to Dr. Kissoon have said that Dr. Kissoon has correspondence with ANUG which shows that in more ways than one, they have not kept their end of agreements.
“If Dr. Kisson is to speak, it will bring down ANUG, so she is staying quiet because they still have to contest the 2025 elections,” the usually reliable source said.
“The result of the election was that LJP and ANUG, each with more than 2200 votes, would occupy the single seat won by the merger for the majority of the time, while TNM, with 244 votes, was entitled to occupy the seat for 91 days,” ANUG explained in a statement.
The Constitution of Guyana provides for the removal of a Member of Parliament only by his/her resignation or by his/her removal by the representative of his party’s List, so Dr. Kissoon would have to resign to make the seat vacant for the representative from ANUG.
“Because TNM was allocated only a few months by virtue of the Memorandum of Understanding, and was at risk of being kept out of Parliament altogether, in the event that an early election was called in 2025, ANUG offered to permit TNM to take the seat for their allotted period immediately when Mr. Schuman demitted.
“However, Dr. Asha Kissoon has now held that seat for more than twice her permitted allocation under the arrangement of trust set out in the Memorandum of Understanding. She has so far refused to relinquish her seat, and remains an imposter in possession of the seat as a Member of Parliament against the will of the electorate as a result of her breach of trust, and has not committed in writing to ANUG to any timeline whatsoever to demit office,” ANUG’s statement further added.
ANUG claims that Dr. Kissoon had made a verbal promise to vacate the seat on February 29, 2024 but has failed to submit her resignation until now.
In January 2024, ANUG introduced Althia King as its elected representative to Parliament.
Dr. Kissoon, 34, studied medicine in Cuba, and currently serves as the doctor in charge of the Sophia Health Centre; she entered politics for the March 02, 2020 elections as the presidential candidate for TNM.
All these so called parties is just a waste of everything. Only in Guyana they mean anything in any other country in the world people will just laugh at these jokers.My advice to these people is go get a life.