December 1 is deadline for nominations

– Williams says expect “interesting” conference

BY JOMO PAUL

Alliance For Change (AFC) General Secretary David Patterson on Tuesday confirmed that December 1 has been set as the deadline for nominations for the upcoming AFC biennial conference.

At this upcoming congress, the party is expected to elect its Leader, Chairman, Vice Chairman, General Secretary and other functionaries within the party.

Patterson had already confirmed that all posts within the party will be up for election. However, the Presidential and Prime Ministerial candidates will not be elected since the party would have to hold a special conference for them to be elected.

Previously, Vice Chairman Moses Nagamootoo and Chairman Nigel Hughes were seen as the most formidable nominations for the respective presidential and prime ministerial nominations.

The other previously named candidates were incumbent Leader Khemraj Ramjattan and Cathy Hughes. Nominations were also received for Prime Ministerial candidate Raphael Trotman, Cathy Hughes, Dr Verasammy Ramayya and Patterson.

However, the party had claimed that its conference which was previously scheduled for October 26 was dependent on the passage of the No-Confidence Motion that the party brought against the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Donald Ramotar Administration. But due to the non-passage of the No-Confidence Motion, the party was forced to abandon the late October date and reschedule its biennial congress.

During a telephone interview with Guyana Times International, Patterson said that thus far, he has received a “few” nominations, noting that he will be making the final tally of nominees for each position within the party when the deadline passes on Monday, December 1.

Further, Patterson related that he has confirmed some 275 delegates for the December 6 conference. These delegates are expected to come from Guyana’s 10 administrative regions.

He told GTI uyana Times too that the event was billed for the auditorium of the St Stanislaus College on Brickdam, Georgetown.

When asked about the theme for the event, Patterson related that the theme will be unveiled at a Press conference billed for sometime later this week.

AFC Youth Leader Trevor Williams and Executive Member Valerie Garrido-Lowe were not previously nominated for any of the top spots within the party.

When contacted on Tuesday, Williams said that as far as he is aware he was not nominated for any leadership position within the party but insisted that if nominated he would not shy away from the position.

He explained to this publication that there may be nominations “from the floor” on the day of the event and if it just so happens that he receives one of those nominations, he would not decline.

He explained that in the past, there have been nominations of this kind for the positions of General Secretary, Vice Chairman and Treasurer of the party.

“I have not been nominated… but if nominated I don’t think I would decline” said the AFC Youth Leader adding that “I am open to nominations… I am open to their confidence.”

He claimed that the AFC delegates are very democratic and have a tendency to openly express their democratic rights.

When asked about his future with the party and this probability of him being elected to office, Williams was adamant that he has his political ambitions but given the current state of affairs with respect to the National Assembly, any pursuit of that at this point would be “distracting.”

He confessed “at some point I do see myself running for higher office.”

When asked whether he believes there will be any change in the leadership of the party at the upcoming congress, Williams said that none of the leaders should go to the conference without expecting a challenge for their respective roles within the party.

He explained that “it would be an interesting conference”.