Former Alliance For Change (AFC) executive Gerhard Ramsaroop who departed the party recently after the AFC refused to join the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) coalition, believes that Guyana’s development depends on an alliance of both groupings.
Ramsaroop resigned from the AFC earlier this month after the leadership of the AFC once again reiterated that the party would not be forming a coalition with APNU. Leader of the AFC Khemraj Ramjattan had told Stabroek News that personally, he does not support an APNU and AFC coalition. He had noted that the party at its various forums will discuss the matter and respond to APNU overtures in this regard but at this stage, he is “very much against it.”
Ramsaroop, whose late father, Boyo Ramsaroop, was a longstanding member of the ruling PPP, has stated that he firmly believes that both opposition parties would benefit from a coalition. He said that he was leaving the AFC with no ill will and he had not officially joined another party but would be advocating on behalf of APNU. According to Ramsaroop, his aim is to “move forward the process of changing Governments, similar to Trinidad, where no party can entrench itself and there is progress in each cycle. The mistake we made in Guyana was to think that bad governance ended with the removal of the PNC…We cannot ever give another government the kind of room that the PPP was given that led it to transform into a monster.”
He had said that “a coalition will not be entered into blindly. APNU also needs this coalition. Therefore, the negotiations will be between equal partners. Moreover, with the calibre of leaders like Nigel Hughes and Moses Nagamootoo, we cannot seriously think that the AFC would be simply subsumed.”
Ramsaroop told Stabroek News that support for the AFC has not grown significantly since the 2011 General Elections. He said that defections of prominent party members “resignations, and the slowdown of groundwork and holding of public meetings is a good measure of this.” He had pointed to the impact of race in the political atmosphere of Guyana and noted that the AFC had garnered much of its support from disgruntled Indo-Guyanese from the PPP’s base.
The former AFC executive said that for the party to showcase its ability to win an election, large rallies would need to be held in Georgetown, Linden and New Amsterdam.
Should the AFC fail to garner support, Ramsaroop stated that the party would “fail to convince Indians that it has regained and expanded its African support. I posit, therefore, that the bulk of this disgruntled Indian base will return to the PPP under these circumstances, leading to a possible regaining of a majority. Should this occur it could also be the end of the AFC – fulfilling both fears of those genuinely against a coalition.”
Ramsaroop said that a coalition between the two opposition parties would allow the PPP’s core Indo-Guyanese voters to see another option. Given a representation of Indian leadership from the AFC which would now be reflected in the coalition, the core Indo-Guyanese voters would “feel less threatened” by the APNU Ramsaroop stated.
“Such a coalition has the potential to excite the general Guyanese masses toward a very high opposition voter turnout,” he asserted.
Ramjattan had stated that the polarization of race and the history of the PNC could be detrimental to the AFC and it could lose its constituents, particularly those who were disaffected with both parties if it joined the coalition. APNU had approached the AFC about the possibilities of a coalition before but the party had resisted.
In August, APNU had said that it wanted the AFC to come under its umbrella at possible 2015 general elections but the AFC responded that it would not as it wanted to keep its identity and support base.
Leader of APNU David Granger had said that while he was optimistic that come the next general elections, the coalition will win the most votes, partnering with the AFC will almost certainly guarantee an APNU presidency.
When this happens, he said, he will not define his or any other party as winners or losers, majority or minority but will seek to have an inclusionary democracy. “The APNU is not interested in winner takes all, we are interested in a partnership and prepared to enlarge that partnership,” he had said.
