Although there is talk of the joint opposition in Parliament, David Patterson, General Secretary of the Alliance For Change (AFC) says the party is sidelined on important national issues by the main opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU). “We as a party are not only attacked by the PPP/C,” Patterson said at a recent AFC consultation in Linden. Using the recently concluded continuous registration for persons 14 years and older as an example, Patterson said there is a basic principle that political parties that have seats in Parliament are entitled to representation in proportion to the seats they hold in Parliament but “the other two parties got together and changed the law” so that the AFC has not been able to provide official representation during the special registration process.
Reiterating that there was supposed to be representation from the PPP/C, APNU and AFC during the continuous registration,Patterson said although AFC has been excluded from the process “if any issue comes up with any registrant or any person that has a difficulty, the AFC will fight their cause”.
He added: “Having said that, we are a very democratic party; we allow a lot of debate on every issue … [to] come to consensus and that is the party’s position.”
According to him, the AFC has established a reputation for defending the rights of all strata and sectors of the Guyanese society. “With the limited resources, we respond to every single cause nationally,” the AFC general secretary said as he highlighted that the AFC has stood up on behalf of rice farmers, cane cutters and small miners at Marudi.
“If Linden has an issue and you want to get it forward, you want to get it public, you don’t go to other parties,” Patterson said, echoing the party’s chairman, Nigel Hughes, who has asserted that the AFC provided significant support for the Linden electricity protest last year as well as legal assistance during the ensuing Commission of Inquiry.
