Ramjattan, Patterson set to square off for AFC’s leadership

Jun 05, 2022 News

…as newcomer, Juretha Fernandes leads nominations list

David Patterson

Kaieteur News – Long time political stalwart and current leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC) has been nominated again by eight of the party’s groups to take back the reins of the opposition—which has for itself seats in the National Assembly as part of the coalition.Ramjattan will be vying for leadership once again but would have to beat off incumbent General Secretary of the Party, David Patterson.
Patterson holds the portfolio of shadow Natural Resources Minister in the A Partnership for National Unity, AFC (APNU+AFC) coalition.
Patterson—according to a party missive announcing the nominations—has not been nominated to vie for the post of General Secretary again.

Incumbent AFC Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan

Political newcomer, Juretha Fernandes, who currently serves in the opposition’s shadow spokesperson on Finances, has been featured prominently in the nominations line-up.
She was nominated as a candidate to vie for the positions of Chairperson for the part, Vice Chair, and General Secretary.
The other nominations for the position of Chairperson include Ramjattan, Sherod Duncan and former Minister, Catherine Hughes – Hughes has also been nominated for the post of Vice Chair. The others getting the tip for that post include, Ricky Ramsaroop, Devin Sears, Duncan and Valerie Garrido-Lowe.

Newcomer, Juretha Fernandes leads the party’s nominations list

In addition to Fernandes’ nomination for the post of General Secretary, Ramjattan, Duncan, Hughes, Ramsaroop, Neilson McKenzie and Michael Carrington have all been nominated to hold this post.According to the party’s announcement on Friday, in addition to the key Executive positions 55 members would be vying to be seated on the 12-member, National Executive Committee (NEC).
The AFC’s National Assembly is scheduled to take place at the end of the week on Saturday.
It is the expectation that the activity will see 285 delegates representing the 10 regions in Guyana, the USA, Canada, UK, the Caribbean, the Women for Change (WFC) and the Youth For Change (YFC) in attendance and participating. Fifty observers will also attend.
The AFC was first formed in 2005 by stalwarts that had parted ways with the two dominated political parties in Guyana, namely the People’s Progressive Party Civic and the People’s National Congress Reform.
Ramjattan, Patterson, Raphael Trotman and Sheila Holder were among some of the more key figures emerging in what became known as the ‘Third Force’.
While the party did manage to succeed at securing seats in successive elections, it was not until it coalesced with the APNU on Valentine Day of 2015 to successfully oust the PPP/C government securing a one-seat victory in that year’s General and Regional Elections.
The PPP/C subsequently retained power in 2020 returning the party and its members to the opposition benches.
With the party’s D-Day scheduled for Saturday, uncorroborated reports have since surfaced that the party is expected to review its role in the coalition and will likely vote on a decision at the meeting to pull out.