ON October 29, the Alliance For Change ‘celebrated’ (commemorated) its 19th anniversary since its formation, supposedly to hold the two major parties ‘accountable’ and to ‘unleash the true potential’ of Guyanese. Unfortunately, this was fool’s gold; instead of the ‘right turns,’ they made all the wrong ones.
As the party gradually evolved, there was a dramatic and devastating turn of events (many wrong turns) that saw the floundering of its ‘founding principles’ which eventually prompted a clairvoyant and strong statement by the then leader Mr Khemraj Ramjattan, who had admonished in 2014 that should the AFC coalesce with the APNU (PNC), then the AFC would become ‘dead meat.’
However, the demise did not start in 2015, the AFC was already on the path to retrogression since 2011 when the internal corruption within the party ‘blossomed,’ which led to the subsequent resignation of some of its long-standing members.
Many of these corrupt acts were highlighted to the leadership but it was a question of who would ‘bell the cat’ when some of the top leadership were involved as well. Donations made to the party became the ‘pocket money’ and personal incomes for some of the ‘reputable leaders.. Some would go to prominent contractors’ home and collect huge sums of cash which were never accounted for in the books of the AFC.
There was an instance where the AFC Canadian Chapter sent CDN$50,000 to an executive member of the AFC in Guyana and this was not handed over. This was told to me personally by an executive of the Canadian Chapter. There were also instances where monies were handed over to the AFC’s top leaders in Canada which never saw the light of day in the AFC’s books. I will not mention the donations siphoned off by lower-level office bearers.
I had no alternative than to publicise these and was labelled a ‘rogue councillor’ by Ramjattan in his effort to do damage control, but he knew that I was correct. What transpired after the AFC became a part of the coalition government did not surprise me one bit — it’s in the DNA of the party.
This reminds me of a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln, who said, ‘Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.’ In the 2011 general elections, the APNU won 26 seats, the AFC seven and the PPP won 32 seats and this was when the big mischief began. The APNU and the AFC then had an opportunity to destabilise the minority PPP/C government and they did not squander it at all.
They not only ‘scissored’(Nagamootoo’s coinage) the budgets but unconscionably reduced some allocations to zero. Many crucial projects had to be abandoned. The progress of the country was secondary to the APNU and AFC’s political ambition and the nefarious plan to overthrow the PPP/C gained fruition. The AFC no longer saw the PNC as a party to be held accountable for past misdeeds; they became one, since their goal was the same.
But the true litmus test of character came in 2015. The APNU and the AFC then saw the opportunity to remove the PPP/C government from office and in 2014 the AFC’s Moses Nagamootoo and Catherine Hughes tabled the no-confidence motion (NCM) in Parliament which saw early elections being held in 2015. It is important to note that it was Nagamootoo’s insatiable quest for power which engineered the NCM and the formation of the coalition. He did not care about the longevity of the AFC; he was a ‘Johnny come lately’ with nothing to lose.
The AFC had taken a shortcut to power, casting all pretensions aside. its leaders’ true characters were laid bare for the world to behold. The AFC did not only coalesce with the PNC but became the PNC in heart and soul. Together they became plunderers of the treasury, they depleted the reserves, they openly committed acts of corruption, they grossly mismanaged the economy and cronyism was taken to unprecedented heights. The AFC deserted its ‘founding principles’ and today the new AFC leader wanted to do an investigation (probably a CoI) concerning ‘what went wrong.’
This has to be the joke of the century. Then to crown it off they became an integral part in the five- month-long attempt to rig the 2020 elections. Imagine Ramjattan saw the Russians who did the ‘rigging’ on behalf of the PPP/C whilst the world at large saw the real riggers — the PNC and the AFC.
Once again, the AFC is regurgitating the empty rhetoric which has become meaningless to Guyanese-they only sound good to themselves and their few cronies. The AFC leaders know that should they venture alone their ‘dead meat’ status will be exposed; so like the WPA they have to be willing to accept the PNC as their masters.
In conclusion, rather than flag-raising ceremonies, I challenge the AFC to go solo in 2025 and prove that they still exist, even as a nomenclature.
