December 6, 2014 By GuyanaTimes

AFC leadership farce…

By Jomo Paul

The Alliance For Change (AFC) has confirmed that the stage is set for the hosting of the party’s biennial National Conference at the St Stanislaus College on Brickdam, Georgetown today. However, the event has been deemed a sham by analysts, given the earlier pronouncements by the party’s leader on his choice for certain positions.

Up to late Friday afternoon, organisers were busily preparing the venue for the conference. Some 300 delegates have already been reportedly confirmed for the National Conference.

Officials from the party on Friday confirmed with the Guyana Times that there were not many new faces among the nominees for top party posts. At present, the leadership corps of the party consists of Leader Khemraj Ramjattan, Chairman Nigel Hughes, Vice Chairman Moses Nagamootoo, General Secretary David Patterson, Youth Leader Trevor Williams, and Member of Parliament Cathy Hughes.

The party’s conference will see the election or re-election of office bearers for several posts within the party, including General Secretary, Leader, Chairman, Vice Chairman, and Party Treasurer.

According to AFC spokeswoman Beverly Alert, Cathy Hughes has been nominated for the position of party Chairman. Ramjattan on Friday told Guyana Times that there were a host of nominations going into today’s conference. The incumbent leader explained that all of the necessities were in place and the conference was expected to be a success.

Confident

When asked about the possibility of him being re-elected as the Leader of the party, Ramjattan said he was very confident of his re-election. Ramjattan also confirmed that Patterson has been nominated for the top spot within the party. He was, however, unable to state who were the other nominees for the post.

The conference will see all of the positions within the party’s leadership core being up for election.

However, while there was a statutory nomination period and deadline, there are also nominations from the floor on the day of the conference. It is expected that there will be a host of nominations today.

AFC Member of Parliament (MP) Cathy Hughes, in a recent brief interview with Guyana Times, had noted that she was not aware of any nominations on her behalf being forwarded to the General Secretary. However, she explained that she “may be” nominated for posts within the party. “That doesn’t mean I am going to accept, but I may,” said Hughes.

When contacted last Tuesday, Youth Leader Williams said that as far as he is aware, he was not nominated for any leadership position within the party, but insisted that if nominated, he would not shy away from any position. “I have not been nominated… but if nominated I don’t think I would decline,” said the AFC Youth Leader, adding that “I am open to nominations… I am open to their confidence.”

When asked about his future with the party and the probability of him being elected to office, Williams was adamant that he has political ambitions, but given the current state of affairs with respect to Parliament, any pursuit of that at this point would be “distracting”.

He confessed, “At some point I do see myself running for higher office.” When asked whether he believes there will be any change in the leadership of the party at the upcoming congress, Williams said that none of the leaders should go to the conference without expecting a challenge for their respective roles within the party. He explained that“it would be an interesting conference”.

Some observers have noted that confusion may reign at the AFC conference given the reported growing dissent within AFC’s core leadership.

One observer explained that former AFC Councillor for Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) Haseef Yusuf may be present at the conference. He may be one person of interest at today’s conference. Yusuf has publicly chastised the leadership of the party, calling for a complete overhaul of the party’s fundamentals.