Dear Editor,
The central questions that the Alliance for Change (AFC) political party must address at its June 11th Congress are: “would the party be able to recover from its blunders?” and “could it recover as an APNU coalition partner or as a separate entity?” The AFC Congress is not about who becomes its leader but rather how the leadership team is constituted to provide a new direction that places them on the path to recovery. As a separate political party, the AFC did show some sparks of visionary leadership between 2006 and in 2015 when they expanded their electoral support by 44%. In 2006, for example, they won 5 seats, in 2011 they won 7 seats and it is estimated that they won 8-9 seats in 2015 when they penetrated the PPP/C’s traditional strongholds in the sugar and the rice belts. However, the AFC’s coalition with APNU, the terms of which are embedded in the February 2015 Cummingsburg Accord, prepared the conditions that derailed their focus as well as their political vision. In consequence, their (AFC) electoral support began to plummet from 2016 onwards until today. The AFC Congress must decide whether it could rise again and become an influential third force or a major player whether as an APNU coalition partner or a separate political party.
Much of the problems of the AFC as a coalition partner have been self-inflicted. They were more preoccupied with an insatiable desire to pursue a higher cause: i.e., to keep the PPP/C out of state power. In their obsession, they lost touch with their constituents, and their electoral base began to whittle away. If they did have a role to play as a third force that quickly evaporated in the coalition arrangement, as they had no demonstrable positive impact (e.g., no transformative project) on their constituents as well as the country. The AFC committed several blunders that precipitated their dramatic decline. First, consequent to the passage of the No Confidence Motion (NCM) in 2018, AFC’s Moses Nagamootoo (then Prime Minister), told the country: “The outcome has to be accepted and we want our supporters in particular to understand that we are going back to the polls.” Less than 24 hours after that statement, the AFC recanted under pressure from APNU. There followed a prolonged court battle to determine if 33 MPs constitute a majority in a 65 House Chamber. Their sluggish position that 34 was the majority of 65 instead of 33, incurred the wrath of rational thinking people, including many of their supporters. When leaders do not understand simple math, and try to vulgarize formulas, what faith would their supporters have in them?
Second, the AFC’s credibility took a pounding again when they sided with President David Granger to unilaterally appoint Justice James Patterson as GECOM Chair contrary to the constitution. AFC leaders Raphael Trotman and Khemraj Ramjattan were with the President when he made that terrible decision on the darkest night of the year; a decision that was subsequently overturned by the Caribbean Court of Justice. Third, AFC members had been complaining about their marginalization as well as of breaches of the February 2015 Cummings-burg Accord (CA) and its revision, by APNU’s leadership. They pointed out, for example, that Prime Minister Nagamootoo (AFC) was not allowed to chair Cabinet meetings as per the CA. Other AFC members complained that the APNU-appointed Minis-ter of State, Joseph Harmon, had too much power, while the AFC Secretary for Region 2, Mr. Karam Chand, claimed: “AFC leaders were feathering their nests—with gold bangles, expensive furniture, and self-serving contracts— I wrote numerous letters…about sidelining of the AFC by the PNC/R.” Increasingly, their members had become disenchanted and viewed their leaders as carrying out the orders of APNU
Fourth, the APNU+AFC coalition won the 2015 elections because of the crossover votes they received from the sugar workers and rice farmers, and the coalition’s promise of hiking sugar workers’ pay by 20% and securing $9,000 per bag of paddy. Rejecting their own Commission of Inquiry (COI) that the sugar estates be given a 3-year turnaround time, they immediately closed 4 sugar estates and placed 7,000 workers on the bread line. AFC Leader Ramjattan proclaimed that it was one of their greatest achievements! Had they acted with compassion and provided alternative jobs, they (coalition) might have improved their showing at the 2020 polls. Notwithstanding that the AFC made several blunders and has been hemorrhaging (as partly evidenced by their poor showing at Local Government Elections (LGE) 2018 when they received only 4.2% of the total votes cast), a new youthful and visionary leadership could ease or even stop the hemorrhage. But a new leadership must admit their party’s mistakes, apologize, and put forth a new plan of action that would assert their identity. They must alter their relations with APNU. And if they are thinking of breaking away from the APNU coalition, this might happen after LGE 2020 results when they will get a good insight into their electoral strength.
Sincerely,
Tara Singh
