AFC moves ahead with plans for LGE without APNU

– but still awaiting negotiations on way forward

The smaller partner in the coalition Government, the Alliance For Change (AFC), has started planning for the Local Government Elections (LGE), slated to take place in December this year.
Following a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the AFC on Saturday, the party said having already commenced its campaign, it has now started with the identification of candidates.
The meeting was held at the Wamlan Pai Kulanau Pona at the Sophia Exhibition Centre, Greater Georgetown.
During robust discussions at the NEC, it was revealed that negotiations with coalition partner A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) with regard to contesting the LGE on a joint platform will continue.
Further to that, the meeting mapped out a pre-campaign plan of action and the broad outlines of strategic plans for the campaigns in each of the nine administrative regions in which LGE will be contested.
The processes for identifying candidates, concerns of citizens, campaign structure, methodologies, organisation and funding and other matters were also discussed and decisions taken.
The NEC will reconvene on July 28, to further advance the LGE campaign.
Having felt it was disadvantaged in the 2016 Local Government polls with regards to the allocation of candidates, the AFC had been mulling whether it should contest the LGEs alone this time round. However, the party subsequently initiated discussions with its coalition partner to discuss the way forward.
The AFC had said the party has proposed nine major points to be negotiated; the upcoming LGE being the first. The AFC is reportedly demanding 60 per cent of the total seats secured after the LGE.
This demand comes after AFC Councillors in the Georgetown municipality has been sidelined by the APNU’s Councillors on a number of issues inclusive of the controversial parking meter project.
In April, AFC Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan had said the parties are still trying to put certain mechanisms in place to ensure that they contest the elections with a good slate of candidates.
“We have made a decision that we are going as a coalition. We have to trash out a number of issues preferably in relation to candidacy candidates, and number of other things,” he had told the press, while noting that the AFC has noticed some unfortunate development in the Georgetown municipality.
Ramjattan was referring to the attitude of APNU Councillors, including Town Clerk Royston King towards AFC members, which he claimed is “bothering us.” The AFC Chairman indicated that statements in this regard have been made and will be officially raised through communication with APNU officials.
In mid-January, Trotman had announced the possibility of the party breaking away from the APNU for this year’s LGE. The AFC leader went as far as to reveal that there was a strong opinion of body within the party that the AFC should go alone, which may have been prompted over delays with reviewing the Cummingsburg Accord.
The AFC has, of recent, come under fire for the perceived submissive role it played when it joined forces with APNU. In 2017 top leadership of the AFC had decided to revise its governing agreement with APNU.
Days later, General Secretary of the People’s National Congress (PNC), the leading party in the APNU coalition, Amna Ally, said the APNU is prepared to contest the LGE without the AFC. However, the President had hinted that contesting LGE as a coalition would have been the best option.
Meanwhile, despite several infightings among coalition members, especially at the level of the City Council, Ramjattan sought to defend both parties when he was asked to comment on the issue. He claimed that the relationship particularly at the Central Government level is cordial.
The 2015 Cummingsburg Accord only catered for arrangements between the two parties regarding the General and Regional Elections. To this end, the AFC proposed as part of the nine points up for negotiation that an agreement on LGE be crafted.
The minority coalition partner detailed some of its positions for negotiation in the LGE Accord. The AFC’s NEC, after a May 1 meeting, had allowed additional time for the two coalition partners to have a definitive written agreement in the form of a Local Government Elections Accord.
LGEs are scheduled for December. Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, Justice (ret’d) James Patterson assured that the entity has done its ground work and is now awaiting the announcement of the date to be fully prepared for the Local Government polls.