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BETRAYAL

Feb 17, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The AFC held a rally in 2006 at the Parade Ground (now Independence Park) in Georgetown. It was at the same rally that one of the AFC’s leaders almost fell through the floor of the stage because of loose boards.
At that rally, I noticed a number of young people. Two of them, I recognized. The parents of one were long-time supporters of the PNCR. The other young lady belonged to a family that has long supported the PPPC.
The two young people were making a statement. They were indicating that they were breaking with the political loyalties of their families. But they were also saying that they wanted to distance themselves from the old race-based politics and wished to embrace a new political culture.
I had a chat with these two young persons. They indicated that they supported a Third Force because it offered the best promise of changing what they believed was an archaic political culture that was suffocating the development of the country and by implicating their future. They said they were products of the new generation and therefore they wanted to identify with a third force. Their presence at that meeting was not out of curiosity. They were there because they rejected the politics of the PPP and the PNCR and wanted to be part of the creation of a new political culture.
The AFC offered them this opportunity. The AFC presented itself as an alternative to Guyana’s race-based politics and ethnic polarization.  A great many young people flocked to the AFC because they wished to distance themselves from the old politics and to embrace a new political culture, the one promised by the AFC.
I wonder how these young people feel about the decision of the AFC to no longer offer itself to the electorate as Third Force. Is the feeling one of betrayal or one of confusion?
I wonder how they feel when they saw the AFC squander the opportunity to use its position of holding the balance of power in the 10th parliament to bring about change. Were they disappointed that the AFC instead of using that position to do so contributed to the political gridlock and confrontation?
I wonder whether they see a future in remaining within the AFC now that it has indicated its intention to join in a pre and post- elections alliance with APNU.
When a political party emerges as an alternative to the two main political parties in the country and then later joins with one of those parties to contest an election, it is impossible for it to re-present itself to the people again as a Third Force.
If the AFC jumps into bed with the PNCR, as part of a pre-election coalition, then the AFC would have betrayed its founding principle as a third party.  Any coalition between the AFC and APNU will alter the DNA of the AFC. It has long preached that it would never join with either the PNCR or the PPP. It is now turning its back on that principle.
The AFC is likely to counter that it is impossible to change the political culture unless the PPP is removed. This line essentially argues that a third force in Guyana is ineffectual, even one that holds the balance of power.
But can the AFC truly bring about change from within APNU? Unlike its position in the 10th parliament where it could exercise leverage on both APNU and the PPPC, the AFC will hold no balance of power under this new arrangement. How then will it bring about this change?
And what is the new understanding of the AFC when it comes to changing the political culture of the country. Changing the political culture of Guyana is not about passing the Public Procurement Bill or some other Bill. That is a far cry from changing the political culture.
Indeed, the great fear is that this decision of the AFC to move towards a coalition with APNU signals that the AFC does not see itself as having the patience to continue to struggle for this change. It now places emphasis on holding power and position.
For those two young persons who were at the 2006 rally, this position by the AFC I am sure represents a disappointment and a betrayal. It is a development that will test their loyalties and misplaced faith in the AFC.

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