Have you read the AFC’s reasons for leaving the coalition with the PNC?

Nov 06, 2021 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Kaieteur News – Whether you believe it or not, I counted 72 persons who requested the 17-page document by the AFC which outlines the reasons for the AFC breaking with the PNC come March next year after the AFC’s congress endorses the divorce. I indicated in my column of Friday, October 29, 2021 that I would share it with the Guyanese people.
This is a weird country. It has always been. When you read that document the first exclamation is: “are these people living in the real world?” I would offer extracts with a comment on each quote.
(1) – “The AFC is the third largest party in Guyana. Consequently, it holds the balance of power to influence the behaviour of the governing party and, indeed, the activities and temperature on the opposition benches.”
Comment – This is simply not true. The combined opposition parties, apart from the PNC, got 9,000 votes in the March 2020 election. Researchers cannot determine how many votes the AFC received because it did not contest the election on its own. What the GECOM records show for 2015 is that the APNU+AFC won the election by 50.30 percent vote and for 2020, the APNU+AFC received 47 percent. What these figures reveal is that from 2015 there has been a steady weakening of the physiology of the AFC. GECOM’s records show that the APNU+AFC did not collect votes in Indian areas. Where then is the AFC’s existence.
(2) – “The AFC must redefine itself to its original cause as the vanguard for political and social change and the watchdog for corruption, marginalisation, and good governance. The AFC must first redefine what it stands for and its mission.” Comment – Unless the authors of that document have a low opinion of people, then such a task will be met with extensive ridicule by even high school kids. Here is what rational humans will say: “now that they have lost power, they are telling us how different they are, why not before?”
But more importantly which group of persons in this entire country will have the capacity to believe and accept that the AFC is a watchdog for corruption, marginalisation and good governance? On each of these three levels, the AFC not only failed but its performance can be described as evil.
Let us quickly look at each level. Marginalisation – it was the co-leader of the AFC, Raphael Trotman, who wrote in the Stabroek News that from 1956 to 1964 when the PPP was in power, Africans felt left out. In 1964 to 1992 when the PNC was in power Indians felt excluded. In 1992 to 2015 when the PPP was in power, Africans felt powerless.
Now read this – Trotman observed that in 2015-2020 when the PNC was in power, Indians felt marginalised. In what will remain an incredible admission, Trotman interpreted the 2015 dispensation as a PNC administration that did not find favour with Indians. The obvious question is when this pro-PNC government was running the country and Indians felt alienated where was the great multi-racial AFC? For a critique of Trotman, see my column of Monday, December 14, 2020, “The sickening admission/confession of Raphael Trotman.”
Corruption – Few Guyanese, if there are any, believe that the AFC was a clean hand in government. Many believe it was a deeply corrupt cabal. This columnist knows that the present government has stepped on a major corruption scandal involving the AFC when it was in government. The revelation will shock Guyana.
Good governance – If good governance appeared as Jaws in front of the AFC, its leaders would not recognise it. The APNU+AFC won by less than one percent. Yet it dismantled the sugar industry without even an ounce of consultation with the Opposition and wider society. Not only were the laid-off workers not compensated but they had to seek court intervention to get it. More than 42,000 persons connected to the sugar workers were adversely affected.
(3) – “The AFC has for an exceptionally long time faced the decision to either leave or stay in the Coalition. Indeed, it has become a political imperative to exit the present arrangement for self-preservation.” Comment – The interesting, fascinating thing about this statement is what form this self-preservation is going to take? Where are the supporters coming from? The PPP, PNC and, to a small extent, Lenox Shuman, have support among the Indigenous communities. Blacks will stick with the PNC with a percentage of Blacks switching to the PPP. Indians, since March 2020, do not want to hear about any opposition party. They will vote solidly behind the PPP. Where is the AFC’s self-preservation coming from? The Le Repentir Cemetery of course. More later.
(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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