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Elections Preparedness…AFC to officially launch campaign in mid-March
The Alliance For Change (AFC) sought to eliminate all doubts yesterday that it may not be fully prepared for the May 11 General and Regional Elections.
In fact, General Secretary David Patterson announced at a press conference that the party will be officially launching its election campaign on March 14.
AFC General Secretary, David Patterson
One of the co-founders of the AFC, House Speaker, Raphael Trotman, in a recent interview with Kaieteur News had indicated that once Parliament is dissolved early this month, he will have a strong presence in the AFC’s campaign.
The dissolution of Parliament will officially release Trotman from his duties as Speaker of the National Assembly.
Further, Patterson stated that while the nation is in preparation mode for the imminent election, the AFC has invited interested groups to join it in forming a Pro-Democracy Alliance (PDA) in the interest of addressing the political issues which have resulted in the rapidly deteriorating situation in the affairs of the country.
He reminded that the AFC has been in deep discussions with APNU on forming what he described to be a “most necessary political alliance”, to root out the evil that has seized the nation’s political life and “is draining the lifeblood of the nation.”
He said that stopping this cancerous development must be the top priority of any well-thinking Guyanese and every effort must be made for this most urgent objective to be achieved in the election cycle. The General Secretary said that the mission can no longer be delayed and must not be hampered by narrow personal, ethnic or partisan interest, but be driven by the country’s political leaders in the interest of the nation.
“All of us are required to make some sacrifice to this end,” he added.
Patterson then emphasized that as regards the progress in the discussions with APNU, there is a necessary Non-Disclosure Agreement in place, only for the purpose of managing the process during the period of negotiations, and the AFC is obliged to honour this agreement.
However, given the deep interest not only by the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic but the rest of the nation, in the progress of those talks, Patterson was able to provide several updates.
He said that the party delivered a detailed Memorandum of Understanding to APNU for consideration. He said that the document broadly covers important areas for improved governance of Guyana.
The AFC General Secretary asserted that the matters of urgent and comprehensive constitution reform, reorganization and improvement of both the offices of the President and Prime Minister, and the possible size of a PDA cabinet, were also part of the document.
He said that certain sets of developmental policies and a timeframe for delivery by any PDA administration, along with the political structure and possible campaign methodology and modality for a joint campaign, were also discussed.
Patterson said that the negotiating teams have held several formal working sessions to date. In keeping with the timeframe publicly committed to at the beginning of this process, he said that the AFC intends to report fully to its National Executive Committee on February 14, the recommended course of action for the May 11 election.
Concurrently, the AFC, he reported, has been busy putting its house in order to fully participate in the upcoming elections. To end the tenure of the current administration, he said, too, that the AFC policies and programmes are being fine-tuned by various taskforces of talented Guyanese, both locally and in the Diaspora.
The politician said that the party is completing its new headquarters which will be ready in matter of days and will be the national hub for its campaign activities.
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