AN earlier expressed endorsement of Moses Nagamootoo, Vice Chairman of the Alliance for Change (AFC), by the Party leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, was cemented on Saturday during the AFC’s fourth Biennial Conference.“That is my right,” he said, addressing the controversy over his endorsement of Nagamootoo, who, like himself, is a former People’s Progressive Party (PPP) member and represented the Party in the National Assembly.

Saturday’s conference drew a crowd of just over 200 persons, and was at the St. Stanislaus College Auditorium, under the theme ‘Unity for healing, reconciliation of our people and equitable growth of our nation’.
Addressing the gathering, Ramjattan explained that while there was no vote of the selection of presidential and prime ministerial candidates, as previously expected, it will happen at a special conference, once a date for general and regional elections is set.
The AFC leader gave the assurance that the election of the Party’s candidates, when it happens, will be a democratic process.

“This Party is a united party,” Ramjattan declared.
However, despite his assurance, there are some who contend that the challenges of internal wrangling, as a result of his endorsement of Nagamootoo as the Party’s presidential candidate, remain unaddressed.
The Party’s conference, which was initially slated for October, came at a time when the AFC is facing major challenges, some of which were expected to cause some amount of unease at Saturday’s caucus.
In addition to the alleged internal wrangling, as a result of Ramjattan’s endorsement, another challenge is the perception that the AFC is aligned with the Main Opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), particularly as it relates to the divisions in the Party, which has seen two factions emerging: The Ramjattan faction and the Hughes faction.
Hughes has been favoured as the best person to be the party’s second-in-command and the prime ministerial candidate.
It remains to be seen whether those matters were addressed or not, since members of the media corps were only allowed to sit in on the opening session of the Conference.