Last Thursday, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo told the nation that he never believed the Alliance for Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) were no longer in a coalition.

He simply did not believe the announcement or story about the divorce. Though the AFC, through the party’s leader Khemraj Ramjattan, said the party walked away from the coalition to pursue other political objectives, Jagdeo was suspicious and still did not believe.

The AFC would eventually have its members Ramjattan, David Patterson, Cathy Hughes, Juretha Fernandes, Vincent Adams and others share their views on a myriad of issues apart from the PNC/APNU body. It would have its programme ‘Alliance on the Move’ weekly that basically shows them working and apart from the coalition and the PNC/R. It has its press conferences and meetings as normal.

That independence did not convince the Vice President of their divorce. For him, Ramjattan’s presence at the Leader of Opposition, Aubrey Norton’s press conference in the role of a “lapdog” was all that was needed to prove the ties were still very strong.

In fact, Jagdeo described Ramjattan’s attitude and demeanour during that press conference as pathetic, subservient and in full “lapdog mode.”
Firstly, no one in Guyana’s political circle pays the AFC any significant attention. The AFC exists and breathes because of the PNC/APNU. It is holding on to life because of the electoral strength and showing of the PNC/APNU.

Had it not been for the coalition, the AFC would have seen its numbers dwindle at the level of the Parliament on par with its membership and support base. This support base, which three years ago numbered thousands, now shamefully fizzled into scores for every region. This is true because Ramjattan and his loyal members have taken the party down the road of shame by coalescing with PNC/APNU, remaining silent while attempts were afoot to steal the 2020 general elections.

After all, the AFC could be described as ‘bloodsucking vermin’, drawing its relevance and what is left of its importance from the PNC/APNU. Without that alliance, the AFC would be reduced to nothingness when compared to the glory days of Sheila Holder and Raphel Trotman in the early 2000s.

Secondly, there is no doubt, in the minds of Guyanese who are objective and impartial, that the AFC would have been lying on its deathbed due to its record in the Executive Arm of Government and its performance politically.

In government, regardless of what they may say, those members of the public know the worst-performing ministries under the previous administration were Public Security, Agriculture, Tourism, Telecommunication and Public Works.

Former President David Granger could tell you his government toppled and scored low in the public’s books because of them coupled with the haughtiness, heavy-handedness and poor financial oversight given by his own PNC/APNU Ministers. Not one project is standing today as an imprint that the AFC left that was not there when they took over.
Politically, the AFC failed in Government and out of office now, to connect with the masses and the electorate. They could not even muster up a handful of support to compete in this year’s Local Government Elections.

Were the public to do an analysis of the AFC MPs walking and doing political work in the villages and regions of the country, the party would be found seriously lacking and its overall performance, as a political unit, would be underwhelming. In Parliament, the MPs’ contribution is lukewarm most times unless Sherod Duncan or Patterson stands to speak then it’s boisterous and entertaining.

Thirdly, the AFC is still lurking around APNU. It has not distanced itself enough or part ways from PNC/APNU. It is still married to the PNC/APNU but it is seemingly battling with the separation phase. It is, as Ramjattan and Norton have admitted, coming back to its matrimonial home and union for the upcoming 2025 elections.

If it is indeed divorced, then appearing at that OLO press conference was in bad taste and does not do the AFC much good but rather makes people think more of the AFC party as a lapdog.
Ramjattan offered nothing at the press engagement but was there cosigning, albeit carefully, everything that Norton wanted to allege about the Venezuelan issue here.
Sadly, instead of following clout and popularity, the AFC missed out on a chance to show itself as a genuine political unit had it stood alone, with the Government or all three sides on the issue.
Finally, though it is still managing to breathe on the outside, the AFC as a political unit is dead and decaying externally. If Ramjattan and his loyalists continue this charade then the public may turn its dwindling attention and support away from the party faster. The public knows from experience when politicians are cherry-picking issues and seeking to pull the wool over their eyes.

The AFC needs to clean its act up, separate itself totally from the PNC/APNU, and seek to save whatever life it still has left. The party has to do a complete 360 to clean out the bad political elements and come back to the Guyanese public. When one is pleased with being referred to as a lapdog in politics, then the end is clear and the writing on the wall is cemented. The end is sooner than one thinks.