AFTER being wiped out at the 2025 polls and failing to secure at least one parliamentary seat, the Alliance For Change (AFC) has now positioned itself as a political mentor, a move People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has dismissed as guidance from losers.

Dr. Jagdeo, who also serves as Guyana’s Vice-President, on Thursday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), questioned how a party that was stripped of its parliamentary representation and outright rejected at the ballot could be providing political guidance.

“Why should we be paying attention to all these people when the population, the voters, rejected them? The voters felt that they’re useless. They had nothing to offer the people of the country,” he said.

Recently, the AFC said it has been approached for mentorship by the new main opposition at the regional level.

According to Khemraj Ramjattan, despite poor performance at the polls, this does not mean the party will walk away from the political landscape.

He said, “We have quite a number of people to mentor, and quite frankly, if I may say this, even those who are parliamentarians have been asking for mentorship.”

In response, Dr. Jagdeo said: “To do what? To lose elections?”

Ahead of the 2025 polls, the AFC did not coalesce with any other parties that were in the running, but leader at the time, Nigel Hughes, had said that the party was looking to forge alliances with like-minded individuals.

Though no official partnership was announced, the AFC has been accused of secretly working with the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party during the campaign and elections seasons.

At the end of March, reports surfaced of secret meetings between members of “Team Mohamed” and members of the AFC, with former AFC activists supposedly leading the effort.

Earlier that same month, then AFC leader, Nigel Hughes, was reported to have met with WIN leader Azruddin Mohamed. Many current and former AFC activists had also campaigned for WIN.

Moreover, former AFC Leader, Nigel Hughes, had even admitted that the party’s crushing defeat at the 2025 General and Regional Elections was a direct repudiation of his stewardship, and says that is why he resigned.

Hughes made the blunt assessment during a previous press conference when asked by reporters about the factors that influenced his decision to step down.

“The answer is a simple one,” Hughes told the media. “If you’re the captain of the ship and the ship sinks, you’re responsible.”

He continued, “You don’t barely lose a match. You either lose a match or win it. In the legal profession, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. At the end of the day, the responsibility is mine.”

The attorney-at-law stressed that the party’s complete shutout from Parliament, its first time without a single seat, could only be seen for what it was.

“It clearly was a rejection of my leadership, so that is the factor. It’s pure responsibility,” Hughes declared.

The party managed to scrape together just over 3,000 votes across all 10 electoral districts—a humiliating outcome for a party that once boasted kingmaker status in Guyanese politics.

The road to the 2025 elections was already littered with defections, as several executive members abandoned the AFC to align with the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R)-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).