WITH the Cummingsburg Accord, the agreement for a formal coalition between the two Opposition Political Parties in the National Assembly, the Alliance For Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), now a done deal and the positions of President and Prime Minister already settled, the question being asked in some quarters is: What about the other surviving Founding Leader of the AFC, Raphael Trotman? 

It’s no secret that Trotman was never a part of the negotiating team that resulted in the Cummingsburg Accord. Everyone knows he’d unceremoniously parted ways with the People’s National Congress (PNC) under the leadership of Robert Corbin, when he called for the Party to apologise to the Guyanese people for the atrocities perpetrated during its 28-year rule.
This suggestion did not go down well with the then Party leader and many of his colleagues who were serving members of the PNC-led dictatorship, which saw many food items being banned, and many persons being criminalised for having such items in their possession.
Trotman has time and again indicated that he is still interested in being a part of the political life of Guyana. As recently as Wednesday last, three days before the historic signing of the Accord, he indicated, by way of an invited comment, that with the dissolution of Parliament, he intends to play an active role in the AFC.
But with the AFC now absorbed into the APNU, there is seemingly no AFC for Trotman to return to. Further, his position with regards to the proposed apology needs to be clarified, as he will, if there is still a place for him in the Party, be returning to work with colleagues who were angered by his suggestion.
The AFC had emerged after Khemraj Ramjattan was evicted from the governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP), and Trotman from the PNC/R prior to the 2006 elections. They’d both refused to join the PNC/R in a coalition to contest the 2011 elections, with Ramjattan promising the membership that the AFC would never coalesce with the APNU.
But in December 2014, he told supporters at the AFC national conference that the AFC was willing to lead a coalition to contest the next elections, and subsequently sent APNU a proposal.
At the end of the talks, it was agreed that APNU will be leading the coalition, a position they had insisted on since 2011. Now the burning question still is: Is there a place for Raphael Trotman in this new dispensation?
The AFC and the APNU together won a one-seat majority in the 10th Parliament, following the 2011 elections.