The Alliance For Change (AFC) will be appointing a new leadership in the coming month of June – as delegates converge for its delayed National Conference.
The Conference is the highest decision-making forum of the party, in which delegates vote for persons to fill the executive positions of Leader, Chairman, the Deputy Chairman, General Secretary and Treasurer. This is in addition to the election of ten members to represent the 10 regions of Guyana and four members to represent the diaspora.
Incumbent AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan
Members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) met virtually on Sunday for their first quarterly meeting of 2022, where a priority issue was the holding of the AFC’s National Conference. This had been deferred last year due to the COVID pandemic.
The members of the National Executive Committee agreed that the National Conference will be held on June 11, 2022. A hybrid system where regional delegates would gather at a central internet-ready location and join the online platform will be employed.
In 2019, Khemraj Ramjattan was declared Leader of the Alliance for Change with Raphael Trotman elected Chairman. Catherine Hughes returned as the party’s Vice-Chair, while David Patterson was elected General Secretary.
A few months ago, the People’s National Congress Reform elected longstanding party stalwart Aubrey Norton as their leader in a landslide win against then Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon and Dr Richard Van West-Charles. However, an internal power struggle ensued and Harmon submitted his resignation as an APNU (A Partnership for National Unity) Member of Parliament this month.
Harmon had previously stepped down as Opposition Leader in January of this year, amid mounting pressure from within the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR). That position is yet to be filled.
Following his resignation as an MP, Harmon told a section of the media that he resigned for personal reasons, while adding that he did so in the best interest of the nation, and more so that of the APNU/AFC.
With Harmon’s resignation coming to light, PNCR Leader Aubrey Norton is widely seen as the frontrunner to become the new Opposition Leader. In fact, he has a mandate from the PNC Central Executive Committee (CEC) to take up both that position and the position of Representative of the List of Candidates. The current list representative is former PNCR Leader David Granger.
The AFC joined hands with the People’s National Congress (PNC)-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) to contest the 2015 General and Regional Elections and the coalition subsequently won. The parties signed the Cummingsburg Accord, which outlined the parliamentary seats and ministerial portfolios for AFC and APNU members, respectively.
However, APNU, led by former President David Granger had been continuously violating the Accord. The party announced in 2020 that it would be reviewing the Accord.
On December 24, 2019, after much back and forth between APNU and the AFC, a revised Cummingsburg Accord was signed, but the full details were never released to the public.
This also came amid threats from the AFC to part ways with its coalition partner after its choice for prime ministerial candidate for the 2020 polls was reportedly rejected. (G12)
