AFC must part ways with Govt to maintain credibility – Ramkarran

The inability of the Alliance For Change (AFC) to successfully push for constitutional reform, a platform on which the party campaigned, has seriously damaged its credibility; and in order to restore some of its integrity, the AFC must resign from Government.
This was the blunt advice proffered by former Speaker of National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran, on his weekly blog.
“If the AFC has been pushing for constitutional reform and the Government as a whole has been dragging its feet, the time has come for the AFC ministers to resign from the Government. It cannot sustain its credibility while remaining ineffective in relation to the most important aspects of its platform,” Ramkarran wrote on his weekly blog.

He said the lack of success in this aspect would leave the party’s credibility in tatters, and its Members of Parliament (MPs) would be far more influential and respected for leaving the coalition Government. This move, he adds, would put the AFC in a stronger position to demand that APNU fulfil its campaign promises.
“By resigning its ministries, the AFC will restore some of its credibility and perhaps support. The public will see that, for the AFC, political office and the perks are of less importance than political principle; that the AFC is determined to ensure that its policy of the end of racial politics is implemented; and that the AFC is a party of integrity,” Ramkarran said.
The Senior Counsel noted that with the AFC out of Government, with its members remaining Parliamentarians sitting on the back benches, it should be the subject of the amended Cummingsburg Accord.
AFC’s support
Prior to joining hands with the APNU (A Partnership for National Unity), the AFC was seen as the third force — the party of integrity, with support coming from across the ethnic divide. So when the party negotiated with APNU the Cummingsburg Accord in 2015 to contest the General Elections, it was the support from the “Guyanese Indians” that enabled the APNU-AFC Coalition to become successful, Ramkarran said.
The former Speaker has said that the party’s lack of understanding of its support base would ultimately be its downfall. He alluded to the fear, particularly by the Indo-Guyanese, of rigged elections, which seems like a possibility with President David Granger’s decision to unilaterally appoint the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
The President is the leader of the People’s National Congress (PNC), which has a history of rigging elections for almost two decades; and Ramkarran has said that that party had never garnered more than 42 per cent of the electoral votes in free and fair elections.
On the issue of the GECOM Chair appointment, the AFC told its supporters that it was never consulted prior to the appointment. However, emails leaked to the media revealed that the Party’s leadership advised the President to reject the nominees submitted by the Opposition Leader and appoint someone of his choosing. The Party’s stance on the issue caused major disagreement with members of its overseas chapters.
“The AFC’s insensitivity to this scenario, and its failure to persuade, or seek to persuade, the President to adopt a different approach to the appointment of the GECOM chair has lost it substantial credibility. This is what the dispute with its Canadian leaders symbolises,” Ramkarran said.
Over the past 30 months since the coalition have been in power, the AFC have been repeatedly sidelined by the APNU. The most recent incident being the sidelining of the AFC nominee for the post of Commissioner on the Guyana Elections Commission.