Describing the press statement released by Alliance For Change (AFC) executive Imran Khan on Thursday as a “strategy,” outgoing party General Secretary Marlon Williams late yesterday afternoon said that he was still not in possession of a formal complaint about the alleged threats Khan has said he and his wife have received.
When contacted by Stabroek News, Williams, who heads the party’s Disciplinary Committee, said that he would be shocked if any party member goes down the path of threats. Ahead of today’s National Executive Conference (NEC), Khan, who is an Executive Member, claimed he and his wife have been threatened by a “thug” associated with a senior party official. He did not name the official or the person he identified as being responsible for the threats.
Efforts to contact Khan and party leader Raphael Trotman were futile yesterday.
“I have seen several press statements but I have received no official complaint,” Williams, however, said, before adding that the AFC is a robust democratic organ. “I am confident that we will continue along that path. The AFC started to rid Guyana of any Marxist-Leninist approach to things. The pillars on which we stand encourage robust discussion on any issue and I am confident that this is just brinkmanship…This is political maneuvering if anything,” he added.
“I believe the press statement was based on a strategy. Whether that is a successful strategy or not, that is another discussion but it is strategy,” he insisted. Khan, in the statement which was shared on his Facebook page, said recent events have given rise to the fear that there are those who place “self-interest and personal entitlement and ambition above the interest of the party, the Coalition Government and Guyana.”
Khan said that during the time of the PPP/C government, when he lived and worked in Antigua and was engaged in political activism against the said government, it was reported to him that a former PPP/C president had vowed that as long as he was in charge he would never work in Guyana again.
“Now, a well-known hooligan, thug and convicted felon who is being (coddled), sheltered and protected by a very senior executive of my own political party has threatened me and my wife that when his benefactor attains a certain political office my wife and I will be ‘chased back to Antigua,’” he further claimed.
Khan said the senior party executive is fuelling this “thug and his co-conspirators with alcohol and political promises” and that they have been camping outside the party headquarters on a daily basis and “abuse and intimidate persons who are considered not to be supportive of their cause.”
Further, he claimed that another “political thug,” who is a known supporter of the senior official, has been actively engaged in attempting to have his name removed from the delegates’ list and has vowed that he will leave no stone unturned until he is successful. So far he has not been successful, Khan said, before warning that he shall not be prevented from fulfilling his duties as a delegate to the upcoming conference.
His statement signaled an intense internal rivalry and it comes on the heels of several posts he made on Facebook after his wife’s name was allegedly removed from the party’s delegates’ list on Nomination Day. He had threatened to seek a court injunction to halt Saturday’s NEC if the matter was not resolved.
It is expected that during the day-long conference, which will be held at St. Paul’s Retreat on the East Coast of Demerara, a decision will be taken on the prime ministerial candidate for the next general elections.
It is known that party Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan is keen on assuming the position from current Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.
During the conference, the top four positions will be keenly contested but Nagamootoo was not nominated for any, this newspaper was told. This may be an indication that he anticipates that he will be the prime ministerial candidate for a second time around if APNU and AFC contest the general elections together once again.
Khan, in a Facebook post, said Trotman, Ramjattan, Cathy Hughes and David Patterson will be contesting for the leadership position. They have also been nominated for the post of Chairman.
“Once Trotman is not contesting, as I understand he will not be, then Ramjattan has my full support for Leader. I will be voting for him and I encourage all delegates to do likewise. Now some may find this strange and even confusing. It is in fact very simple and straightforward – the positions of Leader and Prime Ministerial candidate are different and I have very different views on these two positions,” Khan said.
He indicated that Trotman has his unequivocal support for the position of Chairman.
The other positions to be contested are Vice Chairperson, General Secretary and 12 seats on the party’s executive.
