DISSOLUTION threatens as controversy continues within the Alliance for Change (AFC) since the party called for his resignation, Regional Councilor representing it in Region 6 (East Berbie/Corentyne) Haseef Yusuf has warned.Member of Parliament and Party Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, had demanded that Yusuf resign, after describing him as a “rogue.”
Ramjattan then declared that Yusuf was no longer an AFC member while claiming he was being influenced by the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
The accusations surfaced after Yusuf moved a motion, calling for the AFC and other Opposition parties in Parliament to support the passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Amendment Bill.
Yusuf, subsequently, stubbornly remarked that he will continue to be the “thorn in the AFC’s posterior” once they continue to stymie development.
Not paid subscription
Ramjattan, however, maintained that Yusuf had not paid his subscription in years and insisted that the Councilor does not represent the party in his letters and motions.
The AFC had made clear its position in the National Assembly, that it will not assent to the AML/CFT Bill until the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) is duly constituted.
Ramjattan further lamented that it was Yusuf who had strongly supported the establishment of the PPC in 2011 but has since changed his stance towards standing against potential economic blacklisting of Guyana for non-compliance with the regulations of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF).
In the continuing imbroglio, Councilor Yusuf had attacked the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) in an open letter to the Guyana Times on April 26, 2014.
He criticised the WPA and Dr. Rupert Roopnarine, a long time friend of the late Dr. Walter Rodney, for not participating in the current Commission of Inquiry into the death of the latter who had been the Founder of that very party.
The letter lashed out at what it said was the destructive politics, at the time, of the People’s National Congress (PNC) and Guyana’s dramatic shift from “breadbasket of the Caribbean to being the begging basket of the world,” as well as, the rigging of elections and an atmosphere of complete subjugation to the regime.
Yusuf noted that Rodney was a considerable threat to the (Forbes) Burnham regime since it drew support from the Afro-Guyanese which would, ultimately, mean the division of support thus reducing the PNC stronghold.
Stark reminder
Yusuf said, in a strange turn of events, another qualified Guyanese, Vincent Teekah, who was the Minister of Education up to the time of his death, had also been killed as a stark reminder of what, presumably, was the outcome of non-allegiance to the regime.
The Region Six Councilor bashed the WPA members who once felt strongly that the PNC regime was responsible for the death of Rodney but could not fathom that, now, many of the leaders of the WPA have “opportunistically turned their backs on their fallen comrade.”

(by Dwayne Wills)