AFC leader feigned ignorance

Jul 09, 2024 Letters

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Dear Editor,

The Alliance for Change is now embarking on another journey of ‘change’ and a brand new ‘vision’ (dream?) having deviated so far from its founding principles. It has deviated to the point of no return having accomplished all the wrong turns since it joined forces with the PNC since 2011.  This expedition has now become a mission impossible as outlined below.

Mr. Nigel Hughes self-interest is paramount to that of this nation and that is evident from his own admission and his attempts to hoodwink this nation that there is no conflict of interest in his law firm having Exxon as its client and serving as a high level politician who aspires to hold the highest Office in the land, will not hold water. People are too smart; this is the age of social media and Google access to information is readily available and these matters have been debated exhaustively in the media. However, this missive is about the AFC’s new motto: the agenda for change.

Mr. Hughes wants ‘to rebuild the Alliance for Change into the most progressive party this country has ever seen…and the only agenda is Guyana’. He cannot be serious given the third paragraph. But what is more ludicrous is his statement that the AFC must ‘re-examine what we did in Government that we came out of government we cannot talk about the future if you don’t look back and acknowledge your mistake and try to correct them that is the most fundamental thing about a functioning party’. He went on to elaborate that a discussion must be held on what went wrong and what did not work so that the Party can move forward. According to him ‘some hard truths must be acknowledged. I am flabbergasted that Mr. Hughes actually has to conduct a commission of inquiry to know what went wrong with the AFC.

Let me give what went wrong to Mr. Hughes in a nutshell which every single Guyanese and he himself is knowledgeable about. There is the plethora of corrupt acts which the AFC supported and were involved in whilst being a part of the Coalition government, its complete servitude to the PNC with no say, its acquiescing to the attempted riggings, its acceptance of some egregious violations of the Constitution and its disgraceful statements that the PPP/C rigged the 2020 Elections. Mr. Ramjattan even provided the Russian conspiracy. But the Coalition is still to submit its winning SoPs. In addition, the AFC’s new leader was instrumental in leading the charge that 34 is the majority of 65 and not 33 and millions of taxpayers’ dollars were wasted and an entire country suffered and was strangulated since the No Confidence could not have taken effect and an early Election held. He sold a dream then and is now selling some more. Fortunately, you simply cannot fool all the people all the time and dreams have a limited time span.

Mr. Hughes, being the Chairman twice for the AFC must know the content of the Action Plan which the Party sold to Guyanese and use that as a benchmark in his‘re-examination’ process then he will fully realize the infinitude of deviation from its founding principles. But he is not ignorant of this and his utterances are for dramatic effect. It does not surprise me in the least that Mr. Ramjattan and Mr. Trotman are no longer interested in the leadership of the Party and that Mr. Nagamootoo has taken a backseat drive awaiting for others to do the heavy lifting as is his norm. The trio feels that Hughes can use his legal expertise to deceive the populace and revive the dying AFC. But the people can differentiate between the lawyer and the aspiring politician, between truths and untruths and between patriotism and selfishness.

The AFC spoke about ‘moral revival’. How can there be a moral revival? According to Hughes the AFC must accept what went wrong so this begs the question: Will the corrupt players in the AFC admit what they did morally or legally wrong? I think not. I would like to see a public statement of all the wrongs which the AFC perpetuated on this nation and their acceptance, it is only then that I would believe that the AFC is capable of change. Hughes also needs to prove and that his only agenda is Guyana.

I was a member of the Alliance for Change since its formation but I gradually saw that those in the higher echelons were not truly committed to Guyana but were more motivated by self-interest and were involved in cronyism and corruption. I saw a fledgling party which depended on donations provided no transparency and accountability and monies donated became personal income. I wrote extensively about this. Moreover, when I saw the gravitation towards the PNC and the co-operation with that party from 2011 in Parliament to frustrate the socio-economic progress of this country, I realized that the AFC is only interested in power so that they have access to bigger monies (the Treasury). They did have access from 2015 but as fate would dictate the real AFC was exposed for the world to see. I have lived to see the down fall of the AFC and I have been vindicated.

The infamous Trio cannot face the public anymore and they felt that the real ‘Trench Crapo’ lacks the competence to twist the lies and make them believable, hence the ushering of Mr. Hughes into the ‘RING’ to attempt to sell his dream.

Yours sincerely,

Haseef Yusuf

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• admission, Alliance For Change, Forces, Haseef Yusuf, Mission

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