Under pressure from within and without the party over what has been seen as capitulation to APNU on key issues, the Alliance For Change today said in a statement that it was disturbed that it could not be represented on the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
A vacancy had opened up at GECOM with the death this week of commissioner Sandra Jones. The AFC was asked to submit a nominee and it did but in the end, President David Granger went for the Working People’s Alliance nominee, Desmond Trotman. The President swore in Trotman this afternoon.
In what will also be seen as a glancing attack on the selection by President Granger of 84-year-old James Patterson as Chairman of GECOM, the AFC also raised the issue of age in relation to the GECOM commissioner and said it would have been preferable for a youth or a woman to be chosen. Trotman is a retiree.
A statement from the AFC follows:
The Alliance For Change today received correspondence from His Excellency President David Granger in which he communicated his decision to appoint Mr. Desmond Trotman to replace Ms. Sandra Jones as GECOM Commissioner.
The Management Committee of the party met today and the party is disappointed and disturbed that it could not be represented on the Commission, a principle which it has maintained for over a decade.
Further, acknowledging that 65% of the electorate is under the age of 40 years, the AFC believes that the appointment of the GECOM commissioner should have taken this salient point into consideration. In this regard, the rank and file members of the AFC have expressed reservation about the appointment and were expecting the new commissioner to be a youth or a woman as was proposed by the party.
This issue reinforces the position of the NEC for the review of the Cummingsburg Accord.