Imran Khan put a jumbie lash pon Khemraj Ramjattan

Oct 28, 2019 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

The inferno from the implosion in the AFC is spreading intensely. Here is a statement by AFC executive member, Imran Khan to the leadership of the AFC; “The public needs to know that there was absolutely no competitive ELECTORAL process in the AFC arriving at the Prime Minister candidate. There were no candidates for whom delegates could have voted, there was no campaign, there was no electoral process for Prime Ministerial candidate.
“What in fact happened was that when the agenda arrived at ‘motions’ a MOTION (not an ELECTION) was brought to the floor proposing Mr. Ramjattan as the Prime Ministerial candidate. As the delegates at the conference were primed with gifts, handouts etc during the weeks leading up to the National Conference, the delegates voted overwhelmingly in favor of the motion and it was passed.
“What the AFC ought to have done instead of a MOTION was to open the process to ALL INTERESTED candidates. There are several persons in the AFC, including in the executive who are interested in becoming the Prime Ministerial candidate and NONE of these persons were afforded the opportunity to be part of a clear, fair and transparent electoral process.”
Many AFC leaders are upset not at Khan but at the statement because they feel that Khan is fronting for Nagamootoo and Raphael Trotman. Several AFC persons asked me to look at the video of the AFC’s press conference to ascertain the attitude of Trotman.
He was one of four persons who hosted the press meeting but unlike the other three at the table, Trotman did not speak to the issue that the press conference was called to air.
Twice I looked at the video and Trotman walked a cautious, careful, conniving path. He did not mention even one word in support of Ramjattan as PM candidate. His entire contribution was in the form of an advocacy that the AFC and APNU must seek and come to a compromise.
He ended his participation at the press by asserting the certainty that there will be a solution to the current impasse.
It was Trotman who first brought into the public domain the need for Nagamootoo to continue as PM. He issued a statement in February this year to the Sunday Chronicle informing the public that the AFC executive meeting held the day before had endorsed Nagamootoo as candidate.
The AFC subsequently issued a press release denying that the meeting dealt with the PM issue in any shape or form (see my column of Tuesday, April 2, 2019, “Split in AFC becomes ugly, tragic and farcical.”
Then in May this year, Trotman gave an interview to the Guyana Times in which he argued that it would be detrimental to the coalition if Nagamootoo is not retained as PM (see my column of Friday, May 24, 2019, “Trotman put a jumbie lash pon Ramjattan”
The Imran Khan statement came out the day after the AFC press conference and therefore some AFC leaders feel that given Trotman’s silence at the press briefing, there may be a conspiracy to embarrass Ramjattan and both Nagamootoo and Trotman may not be innocent bystanders.
Speaking to selected influential personnel in the AFC the consensus is that Khan’s emanation came from the pen of Nagamootoo.
As one probes deeper into the disagreement between Ramjattan and Nagamootoo (I was told by well placed sources in the AFC that the two men have not spoken since the June congress of the AFC and Nagamootoo no longer attends the weekly management meeting of the AFC), a bizarre situation is evolving.
This columnist was informed that there is talk in the AFC that Nagamootoo will not be on the candidates’ list for the 2020 election, preferring to bow out, if he is not given the PM slot (which is no longer possible) and will protégé Khan who will be on the list but as a candidate for APNU not the AFC.
So I asked the question of a particular AFC leader that if Nagamootoo will ride away into oblivion in 2020, so why is he going after Ramjattan? The answer was vendetta.
When the explanation was given to me, it made sense. There would have been no controversy whatsoever if Ramjattan did not bid for the PM slot. That is a very plausible adumbration. The AFC and APNU would have continued on their merry way and remained on good terms contesting the 2020 poll together.
It was when Ramjattan threw his hat in the ring, things fell apart. The career of Nagamootoo is nearing its end because the situation of having the PM candidacy again in 2020 is impossible.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper)

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