Trouble in the AFC camp…
WORD is that Leader of the small Alliance For Change (AFC) party, Raphael Trotman, is being touted as a possible opposition consensus presidential candidate, triggering unease among others in the running from the main opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR). According to well-placed sources, Trotman has signalled that he does not expect the AFC to do well at the general elections this year, and as such he is pushing for an alliance with the PNCR, the party in which he was a senior executive member before deserting in 2005 to form the AFC with defectors from other parties.
While AFC co-leaders Khemraj Ramjattan, formerly of the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), and Sheila Holder, an ex-member of the almost defunct Working People’s Alliance (WPA), are against an electoral alliance with the PNCR, Trotman wants to push them in this direction, much to the dismay of major financial backers of the AFC.
Trotman recently told the internet radio, Demerara Waves that he intends to work hard to involve more partners in the alliance.
“The activism has to do with alliance building, so I will be upping the ante, looking for compatible partners, compatible allies to see how we can build the best team for Guyana,” he was quoted by demwaves.com as saying.
AFC sources,however, say that any such move is against the wishes of the major party players, and that they feel Trotman has betrayed his co-leaders by courting the PNCR.
Observers too are saying that with the clear signal from Trotman about the AFC’s slim chances at this year’s general elections, he could be angling to position himself as the opposition alliance consensus presidential candidate, with the backing of PNCR leader, Robert Corbin.
This is not going down well with the five PNCR potential presidential candidates, with former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Brigadier David Granger threatening to pull out of the process, according to PNCR sources. The others bidding to be the PNCR choice are former Finance Minister Carl Greenidge, lawyers Basil Williams and James Bond, and former PNCR minister, Dr. Faith Harding.
Trotman, who occupied one of the five parliamentary seats the AFC won at the August 2006 elections, said Monday he’s not likely to be a parliamentary candidate for the party any more.
“This most likely is my last budget presentation, because I have resolved for myself that I will not be involved in the business of ‘playing politics’ or being in the Chamber for the sake of being here,” he offered in the National Assembly during debate on the 2011 Budget.
Political observers were not surprised at his decision, saying it fits with his distancing himself more and more from the AFC, which he helped found, promising a formidable political third force to the PPP/C and the PNCR.
With the selection of Ramjattan as the AFC presidential candidate for the general elections due this year, Trotman declined to be his running mate, and Ms. Holder, the other senior member of the party, is the prime ministerial candidate.
Trotman on Monday called for a new system of governance that promotes broad-based participation in national decision making, rather than “combative, competitive and confrontational style of governance.”
But one observer said this was just a fig leaf, and that Trotman clearly does not expect the AFC to put up a good showing at the elections.
“He at one time saw the AFC replacing the PNCR. That has not happened, and is not likely to happen; so he knows the game is up,” the observer said.
Trotman turned down nomination as Ramjattan’s running mate on the grounds of health and personal reasons.
Party members said they were shocked at Trotman’s refusal, deepening speculation about a serious rift between the two men that surfaced early last year.
Sources said many in the party were expecting a Ramjattan-Trotman ticket, and several members tried in vain to get Trotman to change his stand after he declined running with Ramjattan.
One insider suggested that by standing down, Trotman would not be blamed if the AFC does poorly at the 2011 elections.