…Ramjattan says of race to win PM slot ahead of AFC conference
The Chairman of the Alliance For Change (AFC) – the minority party in the coalition Government – Khemraj Ramjattan is confident going into this weekend’s National Conference, where he will be contesting for the Prime Ministerial post.
A confident Ramjattan, who had announced back in March that he would be challenging current Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo for the post, told reporters on Wednesday that he was unaware of any other candidates vying for the post.
“I am confident. I don’t know of any other persons indicating their interest,” he noted.
But in a subsequent social media post, however, AFC Executive Member Imran Khan explained that the Prime Ministerial post was not up for election at this weekend’s conference.
“There may be motions submitted which speak to the issue, but there is no election scheduled for Prime Ministerial candidate,” Khan stated.
In accordance with the 2015 Cummingsburg Accord, signed between the two parties to form the governing coalition, the AFC will have the Prime Ministerial position while the Presidential post goes to A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).
The Accord has a lifespan of a minimum of three years and a maximum of five years, and was focused primarily on the General and Regional Elections. However, the AFC back in 2017 was pushing to have the ‘deal’ reviewed and revised, and had even set up a committee to lead those talks, which never panned out.
However, the APNU’s point man for the negotiation of the Accord, Carl Greenidge, had stated last November that there were no immediate plans to modify the agreement since it has been working well.
In fact, after a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting back in January, the minority party in the coalition Administration also reiterated its commitment to the coalescing pact. But this is despite the AFC in recent years coming under fire for the submissive role it has been playing since joining forces with APNU.
This led to the minority party contesting the November 2018 Local Government Elections (LGE) on its own. The AFC then contended that it was still a force to be reckoned with after garnering between four and 10 per cent of the popular vote.
Nevertheless, Ramjattan told reporters on Wednesday that the party’s performance would be among the issues on the agenda to be discussed at this weekend’s conference.
“All the aspects of the organisational and structural works have been put in place. Lots of nominees for positions, lots of delegates will be coming from all the regions. Lots of motions – I don’t want to tell you what the motions are all about. But the questioning of how we performed over the two last years and a number of other things which happen at a party’s congress or conference (will take place),” the AFC Chairman posited.
It was noted too that some 300 participants are expected including Diaspora members from the Caribbean and the United States.
Meanwhile as the AFC irons out the issue regarding its Prime Ministerial candidate, the majority APNU arm of the coalition has already thrown its support behind President David Granger for a second term.
Back in January, Granger was endorsed by his party, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) – the largest party in the five-party APNU. Granger is the leader of both the PNCR and the APNU.
The AFC had subsequently thrown its support behind the President’s return as presidential candidate for the coalition.
Despite this, however, there is talk of the AFC being sidelined by the APNU and two top officials within the PNCR being considered for the Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2020 General and Regional Elections.
