A joint statement promised to the media by Opposition Leader and We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) leader Azruddin Mohamed and the party’s General Secretary Odessa Primus was never agreed upon during Monday’s meeting with A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), an APNU representative who attended the talks said.
The representative, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private, said that while the idea of presenting a joint public position following the talks was initially floated, it was shelved after discussions on the two major issues — opposition representation on the Local Government Commission (LGC) and the composition of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) — were effectively taken off the agenda.
The source said the talks subsequently broke down without any substantive agreement being reached, leaving the parties with nothing of significance on which to issue a joint statement.
Almost 24 hours later, no joint statement has been issued.
Despite this, Mohamed and Primus repeatedly directed reporters Monday to a promised joint statement when pressed about what had been accomplished during the meeting with an APNU delegation led by Chairman Aubrey Norton.
“We had no discussions on the way forward with the Local Government Commission and GECOM issue, so we will be issuing a joint statement. Dialogue will continue,” Mohamed told reporters after the meeting.
Primus similarly declined to provide details, telling reporters that the absence of discussions on those issues did not mean the meeting had been unproductive.
“Well, we may not have, but that does not mean that we have not had meaningful discussions on other things, and that is why again I would reiterate the fact that the joint statement would reflect what was discussed,” Primus said.
Mohamed said the statement would be issued later Monday.
According to the APNU representative, however, the idea of a joint statement had effectively fallen apart before the meeting ended because the talks themselves had failed to achieve their principal objectives.
The source said Mohamed was not inclined to engage substantively on APNU’s concerns over its exclusion from opposition representation on the Local Government Commission.
The LGC issue has become a major source of contention after Mohamed submitted three opposition nominees to the commission without an APNU representative. The selections included two WIN nominees and one from the one-seat Forward Guyana Movement.
APNU, which holds 12 seats in the National Assembly and has significant representation in local democratic organs, has argued that it cannot reasonably be excluded from opposition representation on a commission responsible for overseeing the local government system.
The source said Norton made it clear during Monday’s meeting that APNU could not be expected to facilitate WIN’s push for changes to opposition representation on GECOM while Mohamed was unwilling to meaningfully address APNU’s concerns about its exclusion from the Local Government Commission.
Norton consequently declined to entertain substantive discussions on GECOM, the source said.
That left both of the “big-ticket issues” off the table and effectively brought the substantive portion of the talks to a standstill.
Since becoming Opposition Leader, Mohamed has sought the replacement of the three opposition-nominated GECOM commissioners who were appointed when APNU was the principal parliamentary opposition. WIN has argued that its status as the largest opposition party should now be reflected on the elections commission.
APNU has resisted that position, maintaining that the existing commissioners have constitutional security of tenure and that no vacancies currently exist.
According to the APNU representative, Norton questioned how WIN could seek APNU’s cooperation on GECOM while excluding a party with 12 parliamentary seats from opposition representation on the Local Government Commission.
The source said Norton also made clear that discussions about opposition unity could not be separated from the manner in which opposition representation on constitutional and statutory bodies is being handled.
WIN holds 16 seats in the 65-member National Assembly, APNU holds 12 and Forward Guyana Movement holds one.
With the LGC and GECOM matters effectively off the agenda, the source said the meeting yielded nothing substantive.
The remaining discussions largely centred on the broader concept of opposition unity, establishing a possible framework for future engagements, proposed terms of reference and the possibility of a memorandum of understanding between the parties.
Mohamed himself acknowledged immediately after the meeting that neither GECOM nor the Local Government Commission had been discussed.
Asked about the way forward, he said the parties would have to consult their respective members and parliamentarians.
Norton also confirmed that the substantive issues were not addressed, saying instead that the parties had discussed establishing principles and a framework to guide any future negotiations.
According to the APNU representative, however, the initial idea of a joint public position was contingent on the meeting producing an outcome on which both parties could agree. Once the two principal issues fell off the agenda and the talks ended without substantive progress, that idea was shelved.
Almost 24 hours after Mohamed and Primus nevertheless told reporters that a joint statement would be issued, none has materialised, while there remains no indication of progress on either the Local Government Commission or GECOM disputes.