The General Secretary of A Partnership for National Unity and Minister of State, Joe Harmon said he will be very surprised if the name of the current Chairman of Region 10, Sharma Solomon, is not among the names that the coalition will extract from its list of candidates to serve on the Regional Democratic Council.
If Solomon’s name is not extracted, that would mean that he will not be returned as Regional Chairman since the Regional Chairman is elected by the new councillors from among themselves.
There have been concerns that Solomon might be sidelined and a new Regional Chairman could be installed when the council meets. Already, some Lindeners have been expressing their disquiet over that issue across the community and have even started a petition.
In an interview with News Source on Thursday at Parliament Buildings, Mr. Harmon said as far as he knows, the coalition has not finalized issues regarding the regional councils and who will serve on the three councils that the APNU+AFC won at the recent elections.
“I have not seen any decision made and usually the Regional Chairman is elected from among the members of the Council of the RDC at their first meeting”, Harmon said.
When asked if he is knowledgeable of a move not to extract Solomon’s name, Harmon replied that “I would be surprised if that is so”.
He said he had brief discussions with the Regional Chairman at the opening of Parliament and he intends to have more detailed discussions with him “very soon”.
News Source understands that Solomon has made repeated efforts to have a meeting with the APNU General Secretary since the elections and his efforts so far have been futile.
Additionally, supporters of Solomon in the mining community said senior officials of the coalition erred when they travelled to Linden last Thursday to discuss Council and election matters and did not include Solomon in those meetings.
Solomon is the sitting Regional Chairman and also served as the Regional Campaign Manager for the APNU+AFC coalition at the recent elections. The coalition won the elections in Region 10 by a landslide.
Although, the top brass of the People’s National Congress and the APNU may have had issues in the past with Solomon and his position on party matters, he remains one of the most popular figures for the party in the Region and is considered one of the rising stars of the party on the national platform.
Solomon has indicated that he remains committed to the people of Guyana and his political party. He said he remains willing to serve the nation at the regional level or at the national level.
President David Granger in an invited comment on Thursday just after he opened the 11th Parliament, said he does not doubt Solomon’s commitment to the People’s National Congress.
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