HGP Nightly News – APNU is firing back hard at allegations that it has been collaborating with the PPP to shut WIN out of regional committee positions, calling the claims “absolutely false” and pointing fingers squarely back at the opposition party’s own behavior.
Speaking on behalf of APNU, MP Sherwin Benjamin delivered a detailed rebuttal to accusations made by the We Invest in Nationhood party, which had claimed cross-party coordination was being used to block its participation at Regional Democratic Council levels.
“Those statements are false. Absolutely false,” Benjamin declared.
He laid out what he described as a pattern of contradictory behavior by WIN, cozying up to the PPP in some regions while accusing APNU of doing the same in others.
In Region 4, Benjamin noted, the PPP won a plurality of votes but not enough to secure the chairmanship on its own. The combined opposition, APNU and the Forward Guyana Movement, held the majority and should have rightfully taken the chair. Instead, WIN abstained, effectively handing the position to the PPP.
In Region 10, the situation flipped. WIN secured a plurality but couldn’t secure the chairmanship. PPP councillors voted alongside APNU, resulting in a tie and leaving the region without an elected chairman to this day.
Benjamin’s central argument is simple: WIN cannot cry foul now when it used similar tactics elsewhere.
But the MP reserved his sharpest criticism for what he described as a fundamental contradiction between WIN’s behavior at the national and regional levels.
At the parliamentary level, Benjamin pointed out, there are 20 ministerial positions, and by extension, 20 shadow ministries that should be allocated proportionally based on each party’s strength. By that measure, WIN should hold 11 shadow portfolios, APNU 8, and the Forward Guyana Movement 1.
Benjamin claimed that WIN took all 20
“It is unfair. It is paradoxical,” Benjamin said, “for a political party to do what they did at the national level and now come to the Guyanese people to cry foul.”
On the specific issue of committee appointments in regions where WIN holds more seats, Benjamin pushed back firmly. In Regions 3, 5, and 6, he argued, APNU cannot be blamed for WIN’s failure to engage effectively with regional officials.
“The records will show the PPP refused to accept WIN’s list,” he said. “That cannot be a fault in our doing.”
Benjamin noted that WIN is not a newcomer to politics. The party includes seasoned politicians, former ministers, and individuals with over eight years of parliamentary experience. They know how the system works.
“We in the APNU are perplexed, amused even, by this bizarre allegation,” he said.
The party, he insisted, stands for proportionality, fair dealing, and democracy. And from where they sit, the math doesn’t add up.
