Insiders say…
THE leadership crisis engulfing the small Alliance For Change (AFC) party since last month is persisting, despite attempts to paper over the issue, insiders say. The party was quick to deny reports of a meeting in Miami late last month that its leader, Mr. Raphael Trotman, disparaged his leadership rival and party Chairman, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan.
In a press release, it claimed that the story reported by the Guyana Chronicle and the National Communications Network (NCN) was “completely fabricated.”
“There is absolutely no truth in the story whatsoever,” the AFC stated then, but sources within the party said yesterday that the leadership impasse has not been resolved.
The AFC has now announced that it is no longer courting an alliance with the major Opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) for next year’s general elections.
This reversal was decided by majority vote at a Saturday meeting of its National Executive Committee (NEC), and reflects unwillingness by the AFC to be subsumed in a coalition with the PNCR, observers said.
The AFC has been bidding to be the major partner in a pre-election coalition, but the attempts have been rebuffed by the much older PNCR, which is determined not to play second fiddle to other opposition groups in an alliance, source said.
The AFC said in a statement it will now be trying to forge alliances with civic society groups, like-minded political entities and personalities from the PNCR and the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), “but not with the PPP/C or the PNCR as political organizations.”
Observers noted that the PPP/C has never indicated any interest in an alliance with the AFC, and it clearly fears being an electoral bridesmaid to the PNCR.
Trotman and Ramjattan were in a leadership battle following the failure by the party’s top-brass early last month to honour a rotation agreement that would have seen Ramjattan take over as AFC leader.
Sources in the party said Trotman’s faction is insisting that Ramjattan is unsuitable to lead the AFC, while the Ramjattan group is accusing the party’s prime movers of alienation tactics.
They said the AFC has been badly hurt by the infighting, and may not recover.
Businessman, Mr. Peter Ramsaroop, who has resigned as AFC Chief Executive Officer and withdrew his membership of the party, publicly expressed his displeasure at Ramjattan’s leadership.
Trotman has been exploring options for an opposition alliance for next year’s general elections. He is a former senior PNCR member and parliamentarian who defected to form his own party, and Ramjattan is a former senior member of the PPP.
Earlier this year, Trotman accused PNCR Leader, Robert Corbin of being in secret talks with President Bharrat Jagdeo on a shared governance agreement for the 2011 elections.
Trotman flatly declared then that the AFC was not discussing an alliance with the PNCR, but Corbin said the two parties have had several meetings, discussions and consultations on the issue.