FROM time to time, communication with readers has taken two forms. One is that they would point out to me that there are interpretations of things that I have not done. The other is persons would disagree with some of my angles with the advice that I missed some nuances.
Recently, I was told that I did not do a column on why the AFC was devastated in the 2025 poll, and a diaspora academic indicated to me that he wants to know if I think that Nagamootoo and Ramjattan were not given heartfelt embrace by the Mulatto/Creole founding leadership of the AFC. I now deal with the AFC’s terrible electoral repudiation and will follow that up with class antagonism in the AFC that undermined Nagamotoo and Ramjattan.
The AFC was wiped out at the 2025 national election for three reasons. I will list them in order of importance. The AFC should not have contested the 2025 poll because the AFC was a niche that came and went, and a niche cannot be reproduced. It comes only once.
I campaigned for the AFC in 2011 and 2015. What I saw was Guyanese in substantial numbers putting their faith in the AFC to transform Guyana. People thought only a brand new third party could move Guyana away from its old political culture. The people wanted a break from the traditional parties. The AFC was seen as a dream that the Guyanese people wanted to see become real.
The national chagrin was deep and wide as the AFC settled into power. I think there was a real and genuine hatred for the AFC after 2016. This explains its devastation at the 2018 local government elections. Guyanese hated the AFC after 2016, and this explains why one of its influential founders, David Patterson, was ousted in 2016 as general secretary, beaten by someone who was not really seen as a big wig in the AFC.
Space would not allow for further elaboration but though it is impossible to say how many votes the AFC got in 2020, I doubt if it has contested on its own in 2020, the AFC would have gotten even one seat. The AFC’s time came and went and the party had died a natural death. To think it could win even a seat in 2025 was madness on the part of its leader.
The second reason is class rejection by the working people of the AFC after 2016. Though founded by quintessential members of the Mulatto/Creole class (MCC), the AFC got its parliamentary seats in 2005, 2011 and 2015 from working-class voters. In Guyana the middle class third parties cannot survive only on the votes of the middle class.
This explains why ANUG was rejected in 2020. The WIN voters did not vote for the WIN party in 2025 but Azruddin Mohamed. They didn’t think of WIN as a middle-class party. AFC got serious dents to its credibility because voters saw it as an elitist party that hid its true nature before 2015. Two incidents damaged AFC permanently.
One was the MCC leaders asking Dr. Rachel Thomas, a non-AFC personality, in May 2015 if she would accept the portfolio of the Ministry of the Environment. All second-tier leaders, without exception, became insanely depressed by that decision. And those second-tier leaders afterwards never gave their total energy.
The second incident came to the public’s attention after the AFC has lost power. AFC’s foundation member, Trevor Williams, told the nation that Cathy Hughes, his friend and party comrade, refused to give him the cell number of Minister Volda Lawrence. With that kind of atrocious behaviour, why the AFC expect Guyanese to vote for it in 2025?
Finally, the AFC was mashed up by the electorate in 2025 because of the presence of Nigel Hughes. Perhaps the most self-destructive politician in Guyanese history, Hughes’ time was long gone and it was a colossal act of chauvinism on his part to think he as leader of the AFC could resuscitate the AFC.
Hughes had everything going for him from 2005 onwards. His support among Guyanese was multi-racial and youth-based. Guyanese saw Hughes as a huge departure from the traditional politicians. He further embedded himself in the psyche of the nation when he resigned as AFC chairman in 2016, actually saying that the PNC had smothered the AFC.
He threw away that golden egg when he disgraced himself over the asinity of 34, was the majority of 65 in Guyana’s parliament. From there on, he abandoned his multi-racial image and joined the bandwagon of Rickford Burke, Mark Benschop and David Hinds. Before 2025, he had resigned from politics twice. When he resurfaced in 2025, Guyanese saw it in comical terms.
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