A clarion call for Constitutional Reform

Nov 26, 2017 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

AFC held its quarterly National Executive Conference (NEC) on Saturday November 18 at the Georgetown Club, and our leaders and representatives from all 10 administrative regions took the opportunity, as they are required to do, to express their opinions and concerns on the various issues affecting their regions, the nation and the Diaspora, and to bestow credit where it is due.
Some members delivered very concise reports with recommendations on activities in their regions, some of which were hotly debated. In the end, the group of national representatives was able to come to a consensus on several concerns. As a group, the NEC made a few key decisions concerning the directions the party should take on the matters that influence the growth of the nation.
One of the subjects that was discussed at length was the future welfare of those sugar workers who may be displaced in the national programme to consolidate the sugar industry and all parts thereof including its operations, finances, debts, management and plans for divestment and diversification, the latter possibly into cash crop and cattle farming among other things. Unanimously, the NEC proposed that the Coalition Government continues to give serious consideration to the following:
. Instant severance pay for affected workers
. Land leases for agricultural pursuits
. Easy access to financial assistance (small loans) to help start up new businesses
. Assisted access to local and foreign markets for grown, agro-processed and manufactured foods
The NEC wholeheartedly endorsed the plans for the construction of the new bridge across the Demerara River. Particularly, it highly recommended the bridge design that was presented by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure.
In addition, it is the NEC and the AFC’s consensus that the plan to pave the road linking the towns of Linden, Region 10 and Lethem in Region 9 is indeed in the best interest of the nation, of its citizens who live in inland and interior regions, those who travel into the mineral mining districts, and those who trade in Bartica, Mahdia, Mabaruma, the North West Districts, and in hinterland communities. While welcoming new measures to increase the minimum wage and avoid any new taxes in the 2018 Budget which will be laid shortly in the House of Parliament, the NEC urged the party’s Executive to ensure that the Budget contains a healthy measure of social content to meet the needs of all communities and cultures, including strategic infrastructural projects, educational programmes and youth development. The NEC and every arm of the Alliance for Change remain committed to participating fully in all outreaches to citizens, civil society and the business community to advance the process of Constitutional Reform. Members also marked as a “matter of urgent national priority” the establishment of the long-awaited Integrity Commission.
In addition, the NEC formally endorsed the executive’s stated position to support H.E. President David Granger decision to appoint Justice James Patterson as the new Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). And as a matter of urgency, the NEC has issued a mandate to the party’s leadership to formally write to the Executive of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) requesting an urgent review of the Cummingsburg Accord which was signed on 14 February 2015 to establish Guyana’s first multi-party coalition. Their recommendation is that the parties making up the APNU+AFC Coalition should complete this process on or before the third anniversary of the Accord, i.e. February 14, 2018. They also recommended/identified the members who should comprise the AFC’s negotiating team.
On the home front, the Executive Council pointed out the need to strengthen the party’s internal structures as preparations for the 2018 Local Government Elections move into high gear. The enhanced structures should also be geared towards strengthening the capacity of the Centre of Change (head office) to coordinate the movement of information and general operations more efficiently. They insisted that all changes must take our interactions with members of the public to a higher level, be it at the Centre or in the communities and diaspora during increased public outreaches.

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