-Dr Jagdeo questions credibility of party’s elections

GIVEN the mountain of allegations of procedural breaches, it has come as no surprise to many that the Alliance For Change (AFC) has admitted to having some rather peculiar voting operations.

AFC Chairman, David Patterson, had disclosed that party delegates from Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) voted via their telephones.

During the party’s press conference on Friday, he said: “Unfortunately, Region Nine delegates who were slated to come out were unable to attend in person, primarily due to the conditions of the roads…our delegates from places like Aishalton, Wowetta, etc. were unable to even get to Lethem, because of the state and conditions of the road…

However, those delegates who made it to Lethem were able to vote via their telephones.”

This damning revelation has left more questions than answers and Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo had weighed in on this.

During an interview on Friday, Dr Jagdeo said: “It raises more concerns about their membership and about the conduct of the elections that were recently held.”

However, prior to the AFC’s internal elections, a letter by someone purported to be “David Fitzgerald,” made waves as this person expressed worry over the party’s nomination process.

The letter read, “As per the AFC’s protocols, the General Secretary is entrusted with handling delegate and nomination forms.” However, it was said that the delegate forms were “improperly disseminated” to regions where the party chapters were “non-functioning”, such as the United Kingdom (UK), Canadian, and the Caribbean.

“The situation took a disturbing turn when a senior party member shared purported nomination forms from the Caribbean chapter via various communication channels,” the letter writer further disclosed.

The letter then read that upon questioning by the then General Secretary, Sherod Duncan, regarding the legitimacy of these forms, it was uncovered that the forms had not been officially issued or authorised by the General Secretary.

Despite this being such a bold claim that would shake any party’s structure, the person claimed that senior AFC members swept these allegations under the rug.

The person who penned the letter also revealed that since the withdrawal from the leadership race by the former party leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, a renewed power struggle within the AFC’s ranks has sparked.

Dr Jagdeo has also recently stated that the AFC has failed to reinvent itself and instead, a group of “recycled” politicians are leading the party.

During a press conference at Freedom House on Thursday, he highlighted the track records of those senior members of the AFC, who served under the previous coalition administration.

Dr Jagdeo said: “This is a recycled party, a party of recycled politicians. Not a single one of them is new and doesn’t have baggage. It’s a bunch of corrupt people who have huge overload of issues…they’re yet to answer the people of this country.”

He later stated: “The AFC emerged into politics claiming that it was multiracial, that it was better than the two old political parties, PPP and PNC, that it had these great lofty ideas for the future of our country, that they brought great intellectual bearing to the task of government, that they were different, that they were incorruptible.

“Their experience in government showed a very different light.”