AFC Leadership wants Harmon stripped of some “powers”

In a statement this evening, the AFC said it "is of the opinion that the current difficulties which the government has encountered in the continuing revelations arising out of the appointment of the Advisor on Business Development and the issues surrounding this, have their roots in the concentration of the powers of the office of the Cabinet Secretary, the Minister of State in the Ministry of the Presidency and the effective Head of Presidential Secretariat in a single person".

Just shy of a year since the APNU+AFC coalition swept the PPP/C out of office, the AFC and the government face delicate talks over how to address serious differences and contain a burgeoning scandal around Minister of State Joseph Harmon without undermining their February 14, 2015 alliance.
The AFC appeared to take President David Granger and its senior partner APNU by surprise when it issued a statement from a retreat on Sunday saying that the concentration of various powers in Harmon was responsible for the problems that had flared up in recent days around the government. Harmon has been beset by a string of allegations pertaining to his appointment of businessman Brian Tiwarie as a business adviser, interfering with the work of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and a still-to-be-explained trip to China where he had contact with representatives of controversial logging company, Baishanlin.