Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Aubrey Norton has been confirmed as one of the two persons filling the vacant seats for Members of Parliament. It is expected that after his swearing-in he will be named Opposition Leader.
During the party’s weekly press conference on Tuesday, Mr Norton did not give a detailed plan for his new leadership role but posited that with the party’s Chairman Volda Lawrence also taking one of the seats, there will be changes to the current parliamentary portfolio held by the APNU+AFC members.
“I do not want to signal immediately what I intend to do but I will meet with all of our Members of Parliament shortly…at least two persons would have left and it seems self-evident to me that there will have to be changes.”
The PNCR leader indicated that the coalition needed someone who has a strong background within the accounting and finance field. One such person within the party who possesses this knowledge is AFC Member of Parliament, Juretha Fernandes.
However, the first choice of the PNC-R was that of Former Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge.
Mr Norton explained that Mr Greenidge was unable to take this post as he is currently focused on dealing with the Guyana/ Venezuela border case. In this regard, Greenidge is an adviser to the Government on this case.
Thus, after Greenidge, Norton believes that Lawrence was the best pick for the party as he believes that she has a strong background in the accounting and finance field.
When asked whether the nominees for the two seats received full support from the Central Executive Committee of the PNC-R, the leader did not answer directly but noted that it was consulted upon at various levels within the party and the APNU.
It was only on Tuesday last that Norton’s and Lawrence’s name was submitted by the Head of the Representative of the APNU+AFC Top-Up list, Former President David Granger to the Chief Elections Officer Vishnu Persaud requesting that he extracts the names submitted by him.
The positions for the two seats became vacant following Former Education Minister Nicolette Henry’s resignation from the National Assembly in early February and Former Director of the Ministry of President Joseph Harmon’s in March.
