Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton and President Irfaan Ali met for the first time approximately two weeks ago and began talks on the appointment of several constitutional bodies, including the Integrity Commission, the Police Service Commission, the Judicial Service Commission, and the Teaching Service Commission, all of which have been expired.
Prior to that engagement, Norton said that he requested information on the Curriculum Vitae (CVs) of the persons under consideration and proposed to meet two weeks after, but it was President Ali who said, “it is unrealistic; two weeks is too long.”
According to Norton, they then agreed to meet within one week. This has not yet happened.
Therefore, he came to the conclusion that “the President is very disrespectful, they do not honour agreements. This is an agreement that was made between the Opposition and the President.”
Norton further noted that “I hope that the President does not believe that when he says he wants to meet, I will disrupt my schedule of meeting the people of Guyana and doing my work just to meet with him.”
The Opposition Leader said such actions reflect a breach of the agreement made in the joint press statement.
“I don’t expect them to come with the urgency of consulting because we have put in place the framework for urgent consultation, and it has been violated by the President himself.”
The meeting between the President and the Opposition Leader came as a surprise to many as the Head of State had made it clear that the APNU+AFC coalition needs to recognise the PPP/C Government as legitimate.
But President Ali later stressed that there is a need for constitutionally mandated consultations to be held. The Coalition opposition, to date, has failed to recognise the PPP/C Government as legitimate.
