November 29,2017
Dear Editor,
The Alliance for Change (AFC) has found itself, as it were, between a rock and a hard place.
It is forced to lend support to the government, of which it is a junior partner, on several issues that are unpopular with its base, such as the unilateral appointment by President Granger of a Gecom Chairman, the failure to implement constitutional reforms, and the foot-dragging on calls for a review of the Cummingsburg Accord.
And, as if this were not enough, the nominee submitted by the AFC to the Guyana Elections Commission was bypassed by President Granger in favour of the WPA nominee, Desmond Trotman.
The AFC is trying desperately to create a façade that it is business as usual regarding the impact these embarrassing episodes are having on its membership and some elements at the leadership level. The truth, however, is that the party could suffer the same fate as that of the United Force which joined the PNC in a coalition government in 1964, only to be unceremoniously dumped in 1968, but not before the PNC took full control of the electoral machinery, more particularly the Elections Commission.
The rest is now history. The United Force never recovered as a political party and eventually fizzled out of the political landscape to almost nonentity status.
The AFC seems to be heading in the same direction, and unless it is prepared to stand up for stated principles, could suffer a similar fate as that of the United Force and be kicked into the dustbin of history.
Yours faithfully,
Hydar Ally
