Leaders of the Alliance for Change believe that the party is slowly assuming the role of the leading opposition party, declaring that it is now a “two-horse race between the AFC and the PPP”.
Leader Raphael Trotman said the party is aware that it must assume the role of the main opposition party judiciously and with the responsibility required, but he firmly stated that the party is ready.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference last week, Trotman said the AFC is looking on at the fallout in the camp of the PNCR and that it is has the capacity to absorb.
“Recently we had to reprint a few thousand membership cards as we are taking in membership at an alarming rate…people are satisfied that we have started to assume the role of the leading opposition party in the country,” he stated.
He continued that “one only has to read the press on a daily basis” to realize that the race is now between the PPP and the AFC.
Within the past few months the party has been on the ground working, Trotman said. He said the AFC recently covered hinterland communities in Regions One and Nine and that has been receiving a tremendous amount of feedback from the people.
He disclosed that the party’s General Assembly meeting for Georgetown members was scheduled for Friday last and also that the AFC had planned trips to Linden, Ituni and Kwakwani for last weekend.
Trotman said the recurring complaint from residents “everywhere we go” is that the AFC should be doing more as an opposition party. He said the party acknowledges that it should be doing more work at the level of its constituency and at the policy level.
Currently he said the party is preparing for congress and also for local government elections in the eventuality that the latter is held this year. However, he said the local government polls appear unlikely this year.
Further, Trotman said the party is taking advice and criticisms because it believes that both are necessary to keep the party refined. At the same time, it is also looking for persons who can represent the party at leadership levels–persons who can become candidates for parliament.
“We looking for people; those who can carry the fight and are also interested in persons for municipal councilors,” he added.
Trotman said too that he held private discussions with former Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson while he was here for the Caricom Heads of Government Con-ference. He said they discussed matters pertaining to regional integration and party strengthening.
Chairman of the AF, Khemraj Ramjattan emphasized that party activists are “very much on the ground as the AFC extends it reach”. He pointed to the party’s newfound association with the Rice Farmers Association of West Demerara and its activism with respect to allegations of fraud at Orealla/ Siparuta elections.
Ramjattan said the AFC has engaged market vendors at Parika following up on the situation there and has been part of protest demonstrations at the Regional Office in Essequibo. He added that the AFC recently completed a programme in Essequibo with the assistance of its regional councilor.
According to him, the party has been also looking at the harder issues at the policy level. He said the AFC is preparing and will soon release a response to the Low Carbon Development Stra-tegy (LCDS) after extensive consultations with local groups including miners and knowledgeable persons in the diaspora.
The consultations on the LCDS included input from experts in the forestry, mining business and top economists in the diaspora, according to Ramjattan. He pointed out that the party’s response would laud the strategy if it finds it deserving.
Ramjattan declared that the AFC is also doing “a wonderful job in parliament”. He cited the recent motion by Trotman which the house passed that urged the government to make all possible diplomatic and legal efforts to protect the rights of Guyanese nationals in Barbados and other Caricom states, ensuring there is no discrimination on the basis of nationality.
Further, the AFC leaders pointed out that the party’s Toronto Chapter will soon launch its own ‘seeds of change’ programme, which the party initiated a few years ago while the chapter in New York had been organizing ahead of the party’s convention.
