THE AFC should be very careful about advice given to it about the party’s leadership. A big time columnist is trying to suggest that the AFC should make Mr. Ramjattan the leader of the AFC, that is to say, its presidential candidate for the next election.
The only reason given for this absurd move is that the AFC is very much like the WPA in its thinking and political structure. The WPA, as you may recall, was organised around leadership rotation. Incidentally, notice that I put that in the past tense. Well it is in the past tense because the WPA does not exist anymore. There are a few folks who from time to time would make a little deposit in the newspapers or piggy back on this or that protest. Aside from that, the WPA has absolutely no presence in this country.
Now the same columnist who was once a big time adviser to the now defunct WPA is advising the AFC to rotate. I hope the party has some sense and do what is in its best interest without being hemmed in by a silly little principle which in the case of the WPA resulted in no one knowing the real leader of the WPA. The WPA collapsed for no other reason other than its leadership mess. It never got more than 2% at the polls.
The AFC should take cognizance of the fact that it has been unable to move forward after so many years in parliament. The main reasons for this are as  follows – (1) there are real issues about the leadership of the party; (2) the party is increasingly being captured by extremist elements who are not members of the party but who are trying to piggy-back on it; (3) the same extremists elements are pushing the party to use the politics of ethnicity as its fulcrum; (4) there are real concerns that the top people in the party are too bogged down with their careers and are not sufficiently involved at the grassroots level; (5) the second level leadership of the party is almost non-existent; (6) recent scandals of an individual associated with the party has weakened whatever claims the AFC may have of being a holier than the Pope. There are more issues but I’ll deal with that at a later time.
It is not my place to say who should be the leader of the party. Actually, I don’t think it matters. What matters is that the party should have a leader, and one who is widely recognised to be thus. This rotation thing does not work. Ask the WPA if you don’t believe me.
Ramjattan, Holder, and Trotman should sit down and calmly resolve their leadership disputes based on politics of the day. I know some in the party are saying it is Khemraj’s turn; some others are saying it should be Holder because the party needs a female face; and yet others believe that Trotman is the man indeed. All three positions have credibility.