DECEMBER 21 will mark the anniversary of the Charrandass Persaud’s vote of no confidence against his own government during a Motion piloted by then opposition leader Bharrat Jagdeo.

For some background, please read my article of last Monday. As outlined in that column, the leadership of AFC was overly fascinated by the power and perks of office, resulting in severe and chronic political paralysis.

This political paralysis included neglecting and essentially disempowering the next tier of executives, leaders and rank-and- file activists. The AFC leadership rolled themselves into a separatists Self-absorbed Cabal (SAC).

The SAC walled off themselves; there were no mentorship, no paternal care, no political development programme, and no political information sharing. The ramshackle led to severe disillusionment and despondency; even Nigel Hughes found the alienation untenable.

I believe Nigel took it harder than the other activists; he saw himself as the crème de la crème of the middle-class with a birthright to any inner elitist formation, but he miscalculated the intensity of power intoxication.

The SAC used State power to create an inner circle, which placed Nigel on the outside. Nigel himself could not bear to be on the periphery with the second tier, so resignation was the natural course.
Ponder that if Nigel Hughes, with all his upper middle-class credentials and a wife who was a central figure in the SAC grew frustrated, just try to imagine the sojourn of ordinary activists.

I can confirm that AFC MPs, Charrandass Persaud, Michael Carrington and Audwin Rutherford were all frustrated and extremely dissatisfied with the SAC. Trying to secure a meeting to discuss political strategy, the work of the government, or to get a project done in their community was like pulling teeth without anaesthetic agent.

The parliamentarians complained of ministers visiting their regions and presiding over activities in their local area without a simple courtesy call, notification or invitation. In most cases, they read of activities through DPI releases.

This constructive alienation bred deep resentment for the SAC. Resentment was on a spectrum from mild to severe. Some folks simply withdrew themselves from active political life of the AFC, while others actively sought ways to cause a shakeup.

Just as an example, Gobin Harbhajan had for a few years disengaged from the AFC politically and focused his energies as a self-styled “activist for development”. That was his way of coping with the alienation; this was representative of many otherwise strong political activists.

Versammy Ramayya was also representative of a group that resigned and criticised the SAC. Many others stayed and critically reviewed in the hope that they could effect a change in the SAC culture. There were others who wanted to strike a wake-up blow.

Charrandas Persaud was in the latter group, so the ground was fertile for a no-confidence motion. Bharrat Jagdeo, being an extremely shrewd, effective and competent opposition leader, sensed and exploited this vulnerability. I was all the way in China, and two weeks before the NCM, I was alerted that Charrandass was contemplating a vote with the opposition.

I immediately called key founding leaders of the AFC who acknowledged receiving the same information, but they couldn’t decipher whether it was just rumormongering. I remember pleading with a particular founding leader to call Charrandass to an intense one-on-one session and look him in the eyes from across the table. Use the acquired leadership tactics, if the ‘info’ was credible, Charrandass must ‘blink’, a leader should discern in his spirit whether something is off, if uncertain, call for backup from another leader who is respected for having sharp political discernment. I believe that the meeting never occurred, because the leaders’ level of self-absorption created false invincibility.

A few weeks prior to that, I tendered a skeletal political proposal which advocated for, among other things, the reorganisation of the Ministry of Agriculture, and a role for Charrandass Persaud as Junior Minister of Agriculture, or at least a well-paid spokesperson on sugar.

I also advocated for a role for Sasenarine Singh and Gerhart Ramsaroop to be unleashed in the Agri-sector with special emphasis on reorganisation or transition of the sugar industry.

At the time, many activists were calling for the head of Noel Holder; it was clear that the SAC was going to protect him, at all cost. I was attempting to strike a balance between both sides. My proposal would’ve caused Charrandass to feel he had a stake in the apparatus of the party, and would have essentially killed any motivation to support an opposition NCM. The leadership had all the information, and all the signs were there to observe, but, at the fundamental level, they believed they were under no obligation to entertain or accommodate SAC outsiders.

Charrandass related an event that occurred mere months after the coalition took office. He was in parliament when he received devastating news of the death of his sister with whom he shared a close bond. The shock was visible on his countenance. To avoid bawling in the Chambers, he left his seat in the midst of a debate.

His first symmetrizer was opposition MP Irfaan Ali, who recognised something was off and rushed to inquire, totally oblivious to the AFC leaders. Talk about self-absorption.

The actions of the leaders were nothing short of betrayal of their activists, supporters, and, by extension, the electorate. The betrayal was severe, and was begging for an unorthodox demolition. I am fundamentally opposed to the concept of a NCM against any government that obtained a majority at the ballot box, but I would not sit in condemnation of Charrandass, because, the organic motivation existed; constant neglect, insensitivity, lack of engagement and political exclusion could’ve only resulted in brittle political relations that engender some form of political implosion.

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.