DAYS after the Alliance For Change (AFC) General Secretary, Sixtus Edwards, resigned from the party, another member has publicly issued his resignation and has alleged that the recent decision to form a coalition with A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) was one made by a ‘gang of five’, without the authorisation of its membership.Attorney-at-Law Balwant Persaud, speaking at a press conference yesterday, vowed to do everything in his power to ensure the AFC does not come to power and has in fact now endorsed the People’s Progressive Party / Civic (PPP/C), the party, he said, for which he will now campaign.
Speaking at this Alberttown office, the attorney who deals primarily with immigration matters, further alleged falsification of the party’s financials.
He called on the party, primarily its leader Khemraj Ramjattan, to account for some $21M, unaccounted for in the 2012 report.

“The leader of the AFC has been rumoured saying many times that they spent over $115M on the election in 2011,” said Persaud.
He disclosed, however, that nowhere in the single page document that was presented to the Congress as its financial statement, does it account for $115M. The statement, as produced by Persaud, accounts for $93.8M and he called on Ramjtattan to explain “what happened to the difference ($21M).”

He said that at the Party’s most recent Congress held at St. Stanislaus College, no financials were presented as is required by the Party’s constitution and dissenting views were not invited.

Addressing the media conference yesterday, Persaud, who said he was on the party’s Candidates List at the 2011 Regional and General Elections, “announced to the general public and the Guyanese nation at large that I am no longer a member of the AFC and I have tendered my resignation.”

He said that among the reasons for his decision is the fact that the party departed from the principles on which it was founded in that it would never partner with the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) nor the incumbent.

Aligning with APNU
“Recently the AFC has deceived members of the party by aligning with the APNU,” said Persaud, who argued further that the party executives were only out to look after themselves.

This, he said, was evident in what was made public about the discussions in relation to who gets what position.
“The leaders of the AFC are just concerned in getting into Parliament and hold positions…during the coalition talks all they concerned with is positions for the big ones, they are only concerned with who should be Prime Minister, and who should be minister of this and that.”
According to Persaud, the executive members of the AFC are not in any way concerned with the members of the party and “they have deceived their members and the public because they now aligned with the APNU.”

In even more damning allegations against the Party’s leadership, Persaud told the news conference that “the AFC is being managed by a ‘gang of five’: Moses Nagamootoo, Khemraj Ramjattan, Nigel Hughes, Cathy Hughes and David Patterson.”

The disgruntled AFC member, who brandished his party card for media operatives, alleged too that the AFC leadership never consulted the party membership seeking authorisation to join the coalition.

NO CONSULTATIONS
“They have breached all of the principles of the party; no one was consulted,” said Persaud, who suggested that in addition to meetings, the decisions should have been put to the membership possibly in the form of an internal referendum.

“It is very dictatorial for them to do that,” argued Persaud, who went on to tell media operatives, “A few people decide on everything; ‘the gang-of-five’.”

According to Persaud, in addition to the problems he already highlighted, the party is also plagued by rigged internal elections and breaches of the party’s constitution which saw Nagamootoo being elevated to the post he contested in 2011.

The attorney pointed out that a member of the party would have to be a member of financial standing with the party for at least a year before becoming eligible to being elected to the party’s executive.

Nagamootoo and Rajendra Bissessar signed up with the Party a month before the last elections but were still made eligible for executive positions with Nagamootoo eventually securing a seat in Parliament.

Persaud was asked to weigh in on what obtained before, during and after the coalition talks with regard to the party’s executive and its communication with its membership, since Nagamootoo, during the AFC/APNU coalition announcement had spoken to the fact that the party membership was consulted and was in approval.

Persaud rebutted, declaring that, “you can’t go to a bottom house and talk with five or six persons and then come out and say all of dem (party membership) approve…that is not the way to do things in a well-run organisation.”

According to Persaud, “Nagamootoo can say anything! It doesn’t mean that he is speaking the truth, because he is a known liar.”

A visibly dismayed Persaud repeated, “They deceived their members by aligning themselves with the APNU; the core principle of the AFC is that they say they will never align with the PPP or PNC; that’s why people joined them; that’s why people supported them. Now that they have breached that principle, how can we trust these leaders? We cannot trust them to manage a country’s affairs.”

Ramjattan and Nagamootoo were labelled opportunists by Persaud, who surmised that the AFC was losing support, “and these two guys smell the rat and tricked APNU.”

Persaud related that in recent months the AFC leadership has been undertaking a number of outreaches across the country but the results were not enthusiastic and this led to the scheming with APNU to form a government and get back in Parliament.

“Members never approve this coalition…the supporters are not in agreement,” according to Persaud.
As it relates to Persaud and his political future, the attorney responded by saying, “I wouldn’t like to see they get into power because if they can victimize their own people in the party like Sixtus Edwards and others, if they get into power their main objective is to get revenge.”

Persaud told the news conference that the AFC leadership, particularly Nagamootoo and Ramjattan, were only looking to exact revenge against certain members of the PPP.

“They announce it publicly,” he said. “It’s not no secret that they will send a lot of people to jail… Now, I can’t associate with a Party who just want to get into power to take revenge; they like they want jail people without a Court the way they talking; or they will manufacture evidence.”

Asked if he would be throwing his weight behind another Party, Persaud’s initial reaction was to firstly ensure and do everything he could to keep the AFC out of power, “because I know they are deceitful people, especially Moses Nagamootoo.”

(By Gary Eleazar)