The Alliance For Change (AFC) on Saturday declared that it was ready to take over leadership of a broad pro-democracy coalition including A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) in an effort to remove the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) from government.
Addressing his party’s delegates’ conference at St. Stanislaus College auditorium, Brickdam, AFC Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan said “hard decisions have to be made and indeed the AFC is ready to enter, if necessary, into negotiations and to lead a pro-democracy alliance of progressive forces that is comprised of civic groups, workers’ unions, political forces- and by political forces here we are talking about even PPP members who have been disenchanted with the performance of the PPP thus far and even APNU,” he said to loud applause.
Ramjattan had always maintained that his party would not join with APNU, whose major constituent is the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) that had governed Guyana from 1964 to 1992.
The AFC, which has been tapping into the traditional East Indian support-base of the governing PPPC, has in the past reasoned that it wanted to preserve its identity as an alternative to both major parties.
But on Saturday, he sought to justify engaging the APNU by arguing that there was need for collective patriotic action and cooperation of all Guyanese in undertaking the “herculean task” of voting out the ruling party.
He said the time has come for a true government of national unity “one in which the politics of inclusion reigns over the politics of fear and division.” The AFC leader, however, stressed that the AFC wants to “lead” such a movement.
“We have the capacity to lead such a pro-democracy alliance because we feel at this stage the reform nature of the Alliance Force Change, its concepts on constitutional reform, governance issues and, of course, integrity in leaders that has emerged out of this party, it is so necessary that we lead in that process,” he said.
Any alliance with the groups and individuals mentioned, he said, would be based on agreed programme of an agreed programme of constitutional, economic, social and governance reforms. “Nothing less.”
President Ramotar however, was fully confident that his party would once again control the 65-seat National Assembly where it emerged as a one-seat minority at the 2011 general and regional elections.
Chairman of the large opposition APNU, David Granger, has credited the combined opposition with ensuring that there is greater transparency and accountability by government in the National Assembly.
