The AFC is the world’s most inexplicable political party

Jan 29, 2018 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I never knew Forbes Burnham in terms of “face to face” knowledge. I went to UG with fellow students who became close to Burnham and I respect their analyses of his political being. I also knew good, decent people who confided in me about the positive and negative qualities of Burnham.
The consensus of all these people was that Burnham had an insatiable appetite for keeping the company of people with intellect. I was told that Burnham would never pass up a moment to seek the advice of those whose talent he acknowledged. I knew this aspect of Burnham’s life because when I graduated with the President’s Medal at UG, he sent to call me. I think Burnham wanted me to work with his government. In the end, Burnham would go with what he eventually believed in but he would always consult with educated, experienced people
This was the dreamy pathway that Cheddi Jagan and so many others of his type missed. Jagan was essentially an insecure leader so he felt comfortable with those around him and never moved out of that circle. While Burnham would court his enemy just to secure his brain, Jagan would stay a billion miles away from his enemy. This explains why Burnham was a successful strategist for most of his political career.
Since Burnham’s death, I don’t think successive politicians have sought advice from people outside of their incestuous group. Perhaps the ones most guilty of this stupendous act of stupidity are the leaders of the Alliance For Change. When one examines the modus operandi, style, shape, deportment, essence and functionalism of the AFC for the analyst, it has to be perhaps the strangest political party in the world.
When I heard that Alstrom Stewart from a foreign country was the political advisor to the AFC, I confessed that though I knew many diaspora friends of all the major political parties in Guyana, I never heard of Stewart. Stewart was not and is not a frequent visitor to the land. I don’t know Stewart and would not comment on his skills and politics but there is a compulsory question that must be asked – how well does he know Guyana, its political economy and its sociology?
The AFC composed a political covenant with APNU for a joint entity to contest the 2015 elections. The document is called the Cummingsburg Accord. That paper is a manifestation of gross political incompetence and came about because of equally gross political inexperience and indicated gross political immaturity.
At the time of negotiating the Cummingsburg Accord, only one AFC leader had meaningful and substantial experience in Guyanese activism – Moses Nagamootoo. The rest were literally novices.
If you are going to enter into a legal covenant to share power, some basics cannot be omitted. First, there has to be a meaningful sharing of power not in terms of the inconsequential selection of ministries but participation in the state machinery where real power lies. Real power lies in the presidency and the Ministry of Finance.
The Cummingsburg Accord did not seek a quota of presidential power. The Constitution does not permit a sharing of power but politically there could be a sharing of power. The Accord should have been pellucid about that.
The Tony Blair/Gordon Brown pact in the UK was the precedent for the AFC to follow. But it is doubtful anyone in the AFC knew what that pact was about. Blair and Brown reengineered the Labour Party to make it electorally winnable, referring to it as New Labour. The agreement was that if Labour wins, Blair would take the first half as PM, then share it with Brown.
There was nothing in the UK constitution or statutes that say a Prime Minister has to resign after two years. Blair did not and went on to win a second term. Brown then made it plain for the world to know that he would not cooperate with PM Blair and he expected Blair to keep his side of the Bargain, Blair eventually did.
Soon after victory, the President created a Minister of the Presidency. His gazetted portfolios totalled 18 while the PM’s portfolio was three. I distinctly remember when the gazette came out; it was the talk of the media community. The Accord never stipulated joint sharing of the Ministry of Finance.
That Ministry determines how money is allocated to any and everything by the government. The AFC saw themselves in February 2015 as the embodiment of political brilliance with extraordinary intellectual strategies. What subsequent events showed was that they were political learners and poor strategists.

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The AFC is the world’s most inexplicable political party

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