On Monday, Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader Raphael Trotman was quoted as saying that while his party’s performance in the coalition Government led by President David Granger was “not perfect”, it has utilised its ministerial and parliamentary seats to make a significant impact on a daily basis.
Trotman, who is a former People’s National Congress (PNC) executive, defended his colleagues vehemently when he was faced with tough media questions about the party’s performance at the level of the Executive and Legislature following its decision to enter a coalition where the PNC was the senior party.
Among other things, Trotman remarked that the AFC executives were “blessed with having oversight” of several ministries as he lauded the performances of Catherine Hughes (Public Telecommunications); David Patterson (Public Infrastructure); and Dominic Gaskin (Business and Tourism). He was even bold enough to mention Noel Holder’s performance (Agriculture) without even mentioning the performances of party ‘elder’ Moses Nagamootoo and Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan (Vice Presidents).
When cornered by more blistering media questions, Trotman was forced to admit that even in light of these sterling performances, the party had “lost touch a bit” with the common issues facing ordinary citizens. He said this was because it had become “bogged down” with governmental matters while fighting to get its agenda through.
Anyone listening to Trotman’s review of his party’s performance would not believe he could seriously be satisfied or comfortable with the less-than-stellar performances of his colleagues in office and the deterioration of the AFC’s political support across the country.
The AFC leader could not seriously reference Holder as one of the Ministers that he was “in awe” over what they had done. While all of the persons Trotman mentioned are professionals in their own right and have made their mark politically since joining the AFC and entering the Legislature as parliamentarians, their performance in the coalition leaves much to be desired.
The coalition Government is facing its biggest crisis and political backlash to date after dismissing thousands of ordinary and hard-working sugar and estate workers from their jobs without a clear plan for handling the socio-economic spin-offs from that decision. The responsible ministry – Agriculture – is headed by Holder, who also presided over the collapse of the Petro-Caribe agreement, decline of the Grow More campaign, and the near collapse of the fisheries and other livestock sector because of poor oversight and policy implementation.
The controversial D’Urban Park Project, where billions of taxpayers’ dollars were spent, sits daily unoccupied as a white elephant. Patterson presided over this project.
Also, the security sector, headed by Ramjattan, has faced its worst crisis since Guyana gained Independence in 1966 with the historic Camp Street Prison being reduced to ashes, following the fiery deaths of over a dozen prisoners and at least two lawmen in the line of duty in previous bouts of prison unrest. Crime is rampant with criminality on the increase and still extra-ordinarily high levels of Police corruption. The 2:00 am curfew which has killed businesses and hampered domestic growth remains the only hallmark of his tenure.
Hughes, no doubt, is AFC’s shining star as she has demonstrated competence in her duties and has managed to keep her tenure as scandal-free as possible.
Gaskin’s stewardship of the business sector leaves much to be desired as foreign direct investments are at an all-time low despite his best efforts at piloting interesting policy reforms.
The party, therefore, needs to redouble its efforts, change gears and embark on a post-mortem if it wants to secure a better grade from the public.
Trotman must be more honest, realistic and pragmatic if he is to be taken seriously in the age of a very dynamic mass and social media landscape.
