AFC being a small party, though in government with APNU, still had to navigate many treacherous and perilous political situations that were as trackless as the boisterous sea.

AFC was essentially a sandwich party, caught between an ally and a foe, both of whom the AFC believed had many cantankerous and untrustworthy dimensions.

When the AFC took office in 2015, I assumed that the six most senior leaders and ministerial office holders would have devised political strategies for dealing with APNU its ally and PPP its opponent. I also thought that those strategies would’ve included political growth and developmental plans for the second-tier leaders and other activists. I thought it was time to lay concrete plans for the long game, map out scenarios and contingencies for its own survivability and that of the government it was part of. This was not to be, there was no such appetite.

After the AFC Ministerial Corps took shape, I can recall being peeved with then opposition MP Priya Manickchand, who referred to the AFC leaders as “deer caught in headlights.”

At the earliest stage, I must confess, I had scales on my eyes, I savagely attacked MP Priya on Facebook for those remarks. I received a solid ‘block and delete’, which remain in place to this day. Soon thereafter, I came to realise that Priya was exactly right, all of them were politically indolent, myopic, rudderless and, frankly, a Self-Absorbed Cabal (SAC). The trappings of office meant more to them than the development of party and comrades. Though there were incidences of individual outlier actions, as a group, they shirked every conceivable political responsibility to their party and comrades. Most of them either deactivated or stopped interacting on their Facebook page, exited WhatsApp groups for interaction with activists, stopped attending their own weekly executive meetings, seldom visited the party HQ and provided zero guidance, direction, information or accountability for their ministry to activists or other executive members.

Former AFC minister Raphael Trotman’s book, “From Destiny to Prosperity” provides a remarkable and unmistakable insight into the political propensity and demeanor of the SAC. In his first chapter, “Becoming a Minister” he wrote expressively of his own achievements and boasted about a raft of international travels (see pg 4) but not even a cursory reference to activists, either individually or as a group, who laboured and endured hostilities and sleepless nights to help him on the journey to “becoming a minister.” In fact, his first reference to the people, outside of those who wielded ministerial power, can be found on page 6. People are characterised as having “hustle mentality” and demanding favours they were not entitled to. I can vividly remember a particular hard-working activist enquired about a job placement, a certain member of SAC pointedly asked the question, “if we didn’t win ….?”

I believe that was the shared mentality of the SAC which led them to abandon their second-tier ‘hustlers’, unworthy of their strategic interest. After the 2015 elections, the SAC took no interest in the welfare of those appointed to the respective RDCs. This posture was carried over to the 2016 LGE, they provided no support or funding. Because of this, some AFC candidates around the country, formed their own community groups, while others had no choice but to loaf and leech off APNU’s campaign apparatus.

APNU felt that the resulting seats awarded to AFC on local organs were not deserving, in that, many strong APNU activists were magnanimously stood down to accommodate AFC candidates who did not pull their weight on the campaign.

APNU activists didn’t take this kindly. So, when 2018 LGE rolled around, APNU wasn’t prepared to take any chances; their position was, let us put everyone in a pool and the post-election appointments will be made in every district based on how persons pull their weight. This proposal was not palatable to the rank-and-file activists of the AFC; they demanded to go alone; they did not trust their own leadership to provide critical support and they did not trust APNU to give them just rewards.

Being placed on the electoral hotseat, to save face, some members of the SAC were forced to support the campaign, but because of their general lackadaisical disposition to the interest of the lower tier, a half-hearted endeavor was natural. The 2018 LGE was run almost entirely by the second tier, it nearly ended in candidate disaster. In another column I will explain how the 2018 LGE was rescued and given some respectability.

The people of Guyana need to know that this same self-absorbed cabalist cold shoulder was also extended to AFC parliamentarians, all of whom were second tier executives. The alienation from within led to deep dissatisfaction and disaffection among the AFC backbenchers. This is the key catalyst for Charandass Persaud’s vote of no confidence. While many are perched on their keyboards at home and in many faraway places casting judgement on Charrandass as Judas, backhandler and betrayer, the real betrayers were the aforementioned SAC. More about this in next week’s columns.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.