– AFC chairman urges colleagues to find common ground

By Svetlana Marshall
WARNING that the electorate could respond negatively to a divided coalition, Chairman of the Alliance for Change (AFC), Raphael Trotman said it is important for the AFC and its coalition partner – the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) – to find common ground as it renegotiates the 2015 Cummingsburg Accord ahead of the 2020 General and Regional Elections.

Trotman made the point in the presence of AFC’s Vice Chairman Catherine Hughes and its Executive Member Dominic Gaskin, who, at the time, were reporting that negotiation on the Cummingsburg Accord had broken down over the appointment of the Prime Ministerial Candidate. AFC is maintaining that it must name the Prime Ministerial Candidate, and its nominee, Khemraj Ramjattan, must be accepted. It was during that press conference that the AFC Executives indicated that if the matter is not resolved by the time the National Executive Committee meets on November 2, 2019, a decision will have to be taken on whether or not the AFC will contest the elections as a coalition or an independent party.
“Ultimately the Executive will make that determination whether or not the AFC goes alone or whether or not it goes as a coalition,” Trotman said but made it clear that a coalition is the better option. “I don’t see a better alternative to the coalition, quite frankly. So I think compromise has to be found on both sides, and we will find a solution to this, and I am confident about that,” Trotman said.

He said the AFC saw “value” in the coalition in 2015, and today, the ethos and value remain the same. The AFC Chairman said despite the disagreements between the two sides, he believes that matter will be resolved in time. “I believe that in every engagement of this nature you will have moments of disagreement but I believe that ultimately both parties wish, as I said earlier, and desire a coalition. So the pause for me does give us an occasion to seriously reflect on where we were four or five years ago, and of course to look ahead as to where we want to go and bearing in mind the people’s expectation of us,” Trotman said.
He emphasised that in negotiation, there must be compromise. Referencing to the 2018 Local Government Elections, Trotman said based on the results, it was clear that the people were dissatisfied that the APNU and the AFC had contested those elections independently. He warned to enter the General and Regional Elections as independent parties could be detrimental to both sides. “We are likely to see a reaction that is not in our best interest if we are separate and apart,” he posited.

Trotman is urging the two sides to regroup their efforts and strive to arrive at a compromise. “I certainly don’t want to be, and I know, none of my colleagues here want to be on the wrong side of history by being involved in a gambling, high stakes, poker game. So we have to do what is best in the national interest,” he said.