The AFC: 10 plus 7 equals zero

Nov 03, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Kaieteur News – The Alliance For Change (AFC) issued a self-praising statement on its 17 birth anniversary last week. It was an oxymoronic moment. The output was both comical yet sickening.

I quote from the press release: “The AFC wishes to recommit itself to bringing an end to racial politics…we were established on the predominant philosophy that the racial politics of the past must be eradicated…as part of the coalition government we advocated and promoted ethnic cohesion…lest we forget Guyana has had a horrible history of racial tension…the AFC as an independent political entity will continue to defend its accomplishments.”

Please see my column of Monday, December 14, 2020 captioned, “The sickening admission/confession of Raphael Trotman.”  That article is an analysis of a letter one of the founders of the AFC, Mr. Trotman wrote in December of 2020 in the Stabroek News in which he conceded that the AFC was a failure in the politics of racial healing. His December 2020 missive makes the 17^th anniversary statement of the AFC in 2022 look like elephant dung.

I quote from my column”

1-“One government or one party alone cannot effectively rule Guyana. Other groups will feel ostracized and left out.” 

2- We are a people comprising several nations living in a geographic space we call Guyana. Those of us living here know that at any given time one or two of those nations will not like another, accept another or give the other the legitimacy it needs.”

3- The PNC discovered this from 1966 to 1992 and 2015 to 2020. The PPP discovered this from 1992 to 2015.”

4- “What it comes down to is that almost half of the population will not accept you.”

5- It is well known that the major parties have always regarded each other with great distrust….”

Mr. Trotman has thankfully gone from the political scene of Guyana. His exit was an ignominious one but his sordid acolytes still persist with their comical obnoxiousness. Let us examine manifestations of this odor and odiousness.

1- How can a party be independent in Guyana when it is part of a merger with one of the two major ethnic organizations? Even the PPP has a more multi-racial face than the PNC and the AFC is in a coalition with the PNC, so how can it be an independent organization?

Every school child in Guyana knows in the context of Guyanese politics what the word independent means. It denotes an existence that is separate from the two major forces – PPP and PNC.  In the strict interpretation of election laws in Guyana, there is no independent party sitting in the National Assembly named Alliance For Change.

2- Let’s quote from the 17^th anniversary statement again: “As part of the coalition government we advocated and promoted policies based on democratic principles.” If democratic principles appear as JAWS in the swimming pool of the AFC, its leaders would not recognize them.

Democratic principles involve the recognition that the only format available in the 21^st century for citizens of the demos (ancient Greek term for community) to chose who should govern the demos is election.

From March to July, the AFC was part of a heinous, terrifying bandwagon to deny the people of Guyana the right to vote and have their votes counted. Today, 27 months after the Guyanese people voted, the AFC has refused to recognize that the victorious party won the March 2020 poll, a victory that every conceivable legislator in all the countries in the world has recognized.

3– From March 2020 to October 2022, the AFC has refused to offer even one word, just one word on the party’s feelings on one of its powerful founders, Dominic Gaskin, who is the-son-in-law of former president, David Granger  who publicly stated that there were attempts to commit fraud by the ANPU+AFC in the March 2020 elections. I quote from a Facebook posting of July 17, 2020 by Mr. Gaskins: “For God’s sake, stop abusing everyone who dares suggest that you lost the election. There is not a shred of evidence to suggest otherwise.”

The AFC was the most successful third party in Caribbean politics from its birth in 2005 to 2015. Then it entered government and became the most depraved and degenerate political party in Guyanese history, second only to the WPA. From 2020, it has not performed any act or utter even one sentence that points to redemption. One final quote from the birthday press release: “We are here to stay, join on our journey.” The AFC’s staying power died a long time ago and the only journey it is going on is heading towards the Le Repentir Cemetery.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not this newspaper.)

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