No apologies; AFC’s Imran Khan on ensuring wife counted as delegate

Alliance For Change (AFC) member Imran Khan has come out in staunch defence of wife and Women For Change (WFC) Secretary Tamara Khan, whose exclusion from the delegate list reportedly prompted threats to shut down the party’s upcoming conference.
According to Khan, in a statement on his social media page on Wednesday, his defence of his wife is not owing to personal reasons but comes from a principled position. He claimed that after her name was initially included, it was removed without due process.
“Mrs Khan was duly included on the WFC list of delegates for submission. Shortly prior to the submission of the WFC delegates list, Mrs Khan’s name was removed and replaced with another name. It was brought to her attention that her name was removed. The removal was done arbitrarily and dubiously, without consultation with the WFC executive.”
Khan, also the Government’s Director of Public Information, described his wife’s exclusion as “ludicrous”, since the WFC ought to have submitted a delegate list with its own secretary. And according to Khan, the matter having been brought to the attention of the party’s Management Committee is likely to be resolved shortly.
“Any suggestion that I made representation that my wife be included on the WFC delegate list simply because she is my wife is false and ludicrous. My wife is the duly-appointed Secretary of the WFC and for her to be wilfully excluded as a delegate is an absurdity,” he said.
“I have absolutely no apologies to make for representing the interests of my wife on the basis that she, in her own right – on the basis of the position she holds within the WFC – is entitled to be a delegate. I would do same for anyone who suffered similar attempts at removal if they held an executive position and were duly entitled.”
Meanwhile, Khan maintained that he himself was chosen as a delegate to the scheduled AFC National Conference. According to him, he was nominated by the Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) Regional Management Committee. This comes amid reports that Khan was in fact not nominated.
It was previously reported that Khan informed executives from his party of his intention to seek an injunction to halt the National Executive Conference (NEC) if his wife was not put on the delegate list.
AFC Executive Member Beverly Alert had said at the time in a brief interview that the management committee was handling the situation. What is unlikely, she noted, is the party giving in to threats.
“I can tell you the management committee, of which I’m a part, did receive messages from Mr Khan, along those lines. But the matter is being handled … I don’t see the management committee giving into any threats. But (we’re) examining processes, because we’re a democratic party and at the end of the day, the democratic process will be subscribed to,” she declared.
Much will be at stake for the AFC at this conference. For some time, there has been speculation from political analysts about divisions in the party, with some members supporting Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo to return as President David Granger’s running mate at the next General and Regional Elections.
However, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan had at a press conference in May announced that he would be challenging his colleague for the post of Prime Minister at the upcoming national conference.
According to the Public Security Minister, if elected, he would be “up to the task”. He had informed the media that leadership selection in the AFC is based on democratic principles, which are nothing new to political parties locally and internationally.
“I have already indicated my interest. There are others I am certain who will indicate their interests. And so it is going to be interesting, and it is good to have instead of political parties, the regular rivalry between leaders that you would have in the democracies…so yes, we will be looking forward for it and that will be decided there at the national conference,” Ramjattan had said.
Minister Ramjattan had noted that the electoral process at the upcoming conference will be the deciding factor as to who be running as the prime ministerial candidate at the next General And Regional Elections.