Dear Editor,
I WAS the Secretary of the AFC for four years and the Prime Minister’s Representative for five years in Region Two during the “Coalition Government.”
I came to realise, by rude awakenings, that the PNC/R was not interested in power-sharing, as they boasted about, but domination and dictatorship. What they did in the 1960s was to use the UF by giving Peter D’Aguiar the Minister of Finance portfolio, to coalesce and form the government trough the Proportional Representation electoral system.

The means had justified the end for Burnham then. Thereafter Burnham changed the constitution, and rigged consecutive elections to prevent Coalition after elections, depriving the PPP and other political parties from governing.

Fast forward to 2015, the PNC/R used the AFC and other parties to coalesce before the elections in order to oust the PPP/C government. It succeeded then sidelined the AFC, using them as a doormat to be walked over. Every government ministry headed by an AFC minister had a PNC/R junior minister as an underdog to monitor.

The same was not reciprocal for PNC/R ministries.
The meeting to plan the election campaign in 2020, in Region Two, held at State House, Anna Regina, was chaired by Annette Ferguson, a junior minister and PNC/R member who is not from Region Two. The default Minister of Business, a senior minister, and AFC executive member, had no campaign position (he appeared satisfied with this, since he is not a boat-rocker and accepts everything) since the deputy campaign manager was another PNC/R member.

At the meeting, I asked the campaign manager several times if there was no co-campaign manager, but she evaded this question until we got to know that there was none. We had expected that the Minister of Business, an executive member of the AFC, would have been the co- campaign manager, but the PNC/R would have none of that and sidelined the AFC. Except for myself and two AFC Regional Councillors, all other members of PNC/R and AFC sat there as we were relegated, while we walked out in protest.

Editor, during the five years of the Coalition Government, I, as AFC Secretary for Region Two, wrote numerous letters, hard copies of which I have sent to our AFC leaders about sidelining of the AFC by the PNC/R. I complained on behalf of our members, about hiring practices (employment opportunities), exclusion: from outreaches, heritage celebrations, Tender Board, Regional Standing Committees; harassment by PNCR REOs. Responses from our AFC leaders were without answers, just acknowledgement or a mere, nebulous “All matters have been fully ventilated.”

The PNC/R was planning to rig elections and go back to the dictatorial days of Burnham and bring back national service. When I told the “Ambulance Chaser,” non-esteemed AFC lawyer, mentioned herein above as MOB that people were raped in the Guyana National Service, he asked me if I saw any rape. Any lawyer of competence would know that apart from direct evidence, there is circumstantial evidence, medical evidence (now linked by DNA proof) and victim testimony. No wonder people hire competent counsel from the capital city.

When I told a PNCR member that we would be a one-term government due to non –performance, he told me twice that they would rig the elections, not realising the other nations would not allow that to happen.

Editor, AFC is now “Dead Meat,” cannot be resuscitated or resurrected, and cannot help the PNC/R to govern again. AFC leaders were feathering their nests—with gold bangles, expensive furniture and self-serving contracts—and the PNC/R was taking note and waiting to boot them out. I know that they will tarnish me with their “sour-grape” responses, but “The Truth Hurts.”
The done deal is that the PPP/C will govern Guyana for a long time and better the lives of Guyanese

Yours truly,
Karan Chand
Region Two resident