The AFC is convinced, even though no announcement has been made, that both the Government and the Peoples Progressive Party have launched campaigns for next year’s election. This is apparent in the opinions being reported in the government-controlled media as statements of fact and the increasing use of abusive language, personal insults and characterizing free thinkers as traitors to their race. These devices have now become standard fare, together with the increasing use of the Internet and its myriad new technologies.

The AFC states clearly that it has no truck with these tactics. Our party wishes to be held to the highest standards of decency and public scrutiny. We know that most Guyanese, those who support us, and those who do not, are tired of divisive racial politics and weary of crime, corruption and indecency. We have never, and will never, descend to using untruth and insult as the way to garner political support. Our appeal is to the vast majority of decent Guyanese who wish for a safe and productive future for themselves and their families.

As the campaign intensifies we are persuaded that President Jagedo will become the PPP’s Presidential candidate for next year’s election. For us, however, it doesn’t matter who that candidate is. Over these past 18 years, the PPP’s methodology is clear for all to see. One writer in the letter-to-the-editor columns describes this as the three cs: control, control, control. The AFC regards its duty as helping to bring an end to the pain caused by the PPP’s grotesquely centralized system where one man is cloaked with all-knowing wisdom, where the winner has taken everything and where the people’s resources continue to be distributed as if these were the President’s personal property.

In this regard, we have always believed that the post of Executive President is an anachronism. Representatives of our two main political parties have held this office for 12 and 18 years respectively. At various times during their periods in opposition, both parties have denounced this most un-West Indian of models for administering our economic, political and social affairs. The placing of unlimited and unaccountable power in the hands of one person cannot be good for the practice of our democracy. We will continue to advocate for separating the functions of our Head of State from those of the Head of Government. The Head of State should be a non-executive President and a person of integrity who holds the confidence of the vast majority of our citizens. One of his important functions is to assist in bringing together the divided racial and ethnic strands of our multi-cultural society.

Much has been said recently about the AFC’s Presidential and Prime Ministerial candidates. From the beginning, we have been a steady advocate for term-limits. Our party’s Constitution requires that the terms of our present office-holders come to an end in 2011. At the last National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on June 12, the party’s commitment to the principle of rotation of the Presidential and Prime Ministerial candidates was reaffirmed.

Our Constitution requires the party’s National Conference to confirm and ratify the Presidential and Prime Ministerial candidates of the party and also permits any member of the party in good standing, to be offered as a nominee for Presidential candidate by any of the party groups. It has already been decided that at the party conference in October this year, the NEC will recommend that Khemraj Ramjattan become the AFC’s Presidential candidate and Raphael Trotman become the Prime Ministerial candidate, along with any other person who has been properly nominated in keeping with the party’s constitution. In order to give effect to this decision, Raphael Trotman will endorse Khemraj Ramjattan as the AFC’s Presidential candidate and Khemraj Ramjattan will endorse Raphael Trotman as the AFC’s Prime Ministerial candidate.

These issues have also raised the much-discussed matter of alliances. We are committed to the principle of alliances to contest the next election. However, for a political alliance to be effective, it must be a partnership between groups of political, economic, labour and civil society organizations which share and subscribe to a set of common beliefs. Over the next few weeks we will present a paper on the objectives of such an arrangement. We hope this will stimulate healthy debate and public discussion on issues such as the objectives, the criteria for participation and the principles, policies and practices that should apply to such a partnership.

We are firm believers in the good sense of our citizens. We are satisfied that their wisdom and their judgments are the only foundation for charting the course towards a stable future and designing an effective coalition.

End.

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