-Ramjattan disagrees
Former CEO of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Peter Ramsaroop has cancelled his party membership citing the party’s “undemocratic” nature as the reason for this.
However, party Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan has rejected these assertions and says that Ramsaroop had problems adhering to the party’s constitution which is modelled after some of the most modern of democratic principles.
During a press conference on Monday, Ramjattan said that Ramsaroop had “cancelled” his party membership last week and that he had not given a reason for this. Meanwhile, AFC Leader Raphael Trotman explained that prior to this Ramsaroop had voluntarily resigned from his position of CEO. This resignation had occurred before Ramsaroop was accused by one of his tenants of planting cameras in her apartment and was spying on her.
When contacted by this newspaper as to the reasons for his resignation, Ramsaroop said he found it contradictory that the AFC would say that it would recommend Ramjattan to be its presidential candidate yet say that anyone is allowed to compete for the post. He said such a system “slaps in the face of true democracy.” He also accused the AFC Chairman of being at the heart of many of these undemocratic practices and taking stands that were counter-productive to the party.
When contacted, Ramjattan said that the party’s constitution allowed for the National Executive Committee (NEC) to make a recommendation to the wider membership after consideration of established criteria. He said too that the constitution also allowed other candidates to contest for the post of Presidential Candidate by a process. Significantly, this candidate would have the approval of the NEC as well. Ramjattan said that the party’s constitution was very democratic and pointed to the fact that large portions of it were taken from that of the African National Congress (ANC).The AFC Chairman said that it was this same constitution that Ramsaroop had agreed to accept when he joined the party. He disclosed that later Ramsaroop had problems with the leadership of the party, but did not go into details about the nature of these issues. Ramjattan said that the leadership was willing to put aside these issues and move forward. He emphasised too that the party had not asked Ramsaroop to resign nor forced him to resign.
Meanwhile, Ramsaroop also criticized Ramjattan for his remarks about not wanting to team up with the PNCR, and opined that this was counter productive to the party. He said that the party was not interested in working with all groups to ensure that the PPP government loses power but that it wanted to be selective in its partnership. The former CEO argued that if the PPP government was to be removed at elections a ‘big tent’ approach was needed.
On Monday, Ramjattan said he had had a change of heart and was prepared to engage the PNCR and other groups as well. Asked specifically about teaming up with Ramsaroop and his group Vision Guyana, Ramjattan said that the AFC was open to a partnership with this group.