AFC supporters returning to PPP/C in large numbers – PPP

TIMES INT'L
PPP/C General Secretary Clement Rohee
PPP/C General Secretary Clement Rohee

Ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) General Secretary Clement Rohee has cautioned party groups and organisers against turning away scores of persons who voted for the Alliance For Change (AFC) at the 2011 elections, but are now expressing a desire to rejoin the ranks of the party.

Rohee, in a letter seen by this newspaper said: “It has been brought to our attention that a large number of supporters who voted for the AFC in 2011 are expressing support for the PPP/C.”

He said that “a number of these former AFC voters have pointed out some level of difficulty in being reaccepted into our ranks by our activists”.

The General Secretary then instructed the party groups and organisers to “facilitate and allow these former AFC supporters to be reintegrated and support party campaign activities in their respective areas”.

He argued in the letter dated March 2, 2015 that while the rejection of these former AFC voters was understandable, “many now are better aware of their mistakes and see the PPP/C as their genuine choice and for this we should all welcome their reintegration”.

The letter is seen as perhaps one of the first signs that the Cummingsburg Accord signed by the AFC and the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) on Valentine’s Day this year has left the former at the bitter end of the political scope.

In fact, since the AFC’s decision to ink the agreement and enter into a coalition with the People’s National Congress (PNC)-led APNU, the AFC has been facing significant internal challenges which has seen a number of its core Executives and grassroots support base resigning their membership.

The party’s leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, has been having an uphill task justifying the decision of his Executive and trying to sell the coalition to thousands of AFC supporters who believed that the AFC should have remained a third force and option to both the PPP/C and PNC-dominated APNU.

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