Only way out for APNU/AFC is to concede – Ramkarran

…says coalition has shown it cannot be trusted with political power

A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) is steadily running out of options to hang on to power and their only way out lies in the party conceding defeat and allowing a smooth transition of power.

This is according to former Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran, who noted in his most recent writings in the “Conversation Tree” that it will take courage for APNU/AFC to “eat humble pie” and admit that they were wrong. But at the end of the day, it is their only way out of the mess that they created.
“There can be no doubt that with the end of the road approaching, the APNU+AFC coalition is in a mess. It is a mess of their own creation and they are losing

sympathy. In this era of slim majorities, instead of going into opposition and planning for victory in 2025, they decided to go rogue,” Ramkarran wrote.
“This is a route that APNU has travelled before, between 1968 and 1992, under a different name and in a different era. It has no future, long or short term. Today, instead of promoting the worthy aspects of Burnham’s legacy, they have chosen to embrace the worst. It would mark them forever as a party that cheats, that cannot be trusted with political office.”
According to Ramkarran, APNU/AFC started its descent into the political mess it is in since 2019, when they refused to accept losing the No-Confidence Motion. Ramkarran recalled that the coalition embarked on a scurrilous drive to overturn the passage of the motion.
After the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruled that the motion was validly passed, APNU/AFC then argued that the court never set a date for the election and therefore, they could hold it whenever they felt like.
The coalition’s antics continued with their attempts to invalidate the recount through the courts. Things have gotten so bad that APNU/AFC, through caretaker Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Karen Cummings, told the Organisation of American States (OAS) that the CCJ invalidated the recount. This is in fact not true.

The way forward
The Court of Appeal is scheduled to rule on the Misenga Jones case, which seeks to force the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to use fraudulent declarations to declare the winner of the March 2 elections, on Thursday.
Ramkarran noted that when the court rules and GECOM makes a declaration based on the recount results, APNU/AFC will have truly run out of wiggle room to avoid giving up power. They will either have to concede defeat or bully their way past GECOM and the courts.
“The first possibility, and one that appears to be the most likely, is that APNU+AFC will brazen it out and refuse to give up power. But how will that work? If the GECOM declaration is not accepted, a President cannot be sworn in and Parliament cannot be convened. The President and Government would be officially illegal.”
“Spending, the most important lubricant of a lawful and democratic Government, is now limited under Article 219 (3) of the Constitution to the public services until budget estimates and an Appropriations Bill are passed. Signs of illegal spending are already obvious. There is no law, instrument, mechanism or device in existence that would enable an illegal Government to govern legally, or with a modicum of normalcy.”
Ramkarran further added that the People’s National Congress (PNC) dictatorship of the former President Forbes Burnham at least had the façade of democratic power, won through rigged elections. But if APNU/AFC were to go a similar route, their undemocratic hold on power would be naked since they weren’t even successful at rigging the elections.
According to Ramkarran, for APNU/AFC to hold on to power in such extreme circumstances, they would have to curtail rights such as freedom of expression, since such a takeover is likely to draw an outcry from the people of Guyana.
He said an APNU/AFC dictatorship would spell the end of parliamentary rule, civil liberties and constitutional rights. Freedom of movement would be prohibited; spies would be used and arrests of political activists would be a way of life.
“To reject GECOM’s declaration and stay in office, a full-blown, military or military-backed coup would have to be effected. A group of civilians, or of the military, or a combination of both, backed officially or unofficially by the security forces positioned, as if ready for battle at sensitive points, would have to declare that it is taking over the reins of Government.”
“Ubiquitous state security would be part of daily life. There would be rule by proclamation. There would be political and financial isolation by the international community. Poverty will escalate,” Ramkarran also wrote.
He, therefore, urged APNU/AFC to do the right thing, return to the opposition benches and work hard on regaining the trust of citizens and possibly win at the 2025 elections. The only way APNU/AFC can succeed is by offering a creative political agenda and obtaining the support of the majority of the electorate.
“It will take political courage to eat humble pie and reverse course as an opposition, but this is the only way out unless APNU+AFC chooses to repeat the 1968-1992 PNC’s torture of Guyana,” Ramkarran stated in his column.