The Alliance For Change (AFC), a growing political party in Parliament has begun to internationalize the excesses of the governing Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) in Guyana.
The AFC strategy, aimed at mobilizing international attention, was successfully used about two decades ago by the PPP and other groups against the then governing Peoples National Congress which had been rigging national elections for years.
The internationalization strategy saw the influential Carter Center going to Guyana in 1992 to lobby for fair and free elections.The PPP became the victors.
Now the AFC strategy is making the PPP nervous according to one observer who believes the Guyana Government would again attract attention from the power brokers within the US Administration.
Khemraj Ramjattan, Attorney- at- Law and Presidential nominee of the AFC who recently concluded a visit to the United States met with key officials of the US State Department, Amnesty International among others.
Government corruption, financial impropriety, crime and human rights violation were issues raised with the US officials, according to Caribbean media reports in the United States.
In a number of media appearances, the opposition politician declared that some 40 % of Guyanas economy is funded by smuggling and narcotics trafficking.
His interview with Baiganchoka.com witnessed more than a hundred and fifty thousand hits within a few days.
And on a Guyana News and Information discussion forum about the AFC lobbying efforts, one contributor observed, Ramjattan is the most decent politician in Guyana. I know this man from his early days as the PYO chairman. This is one man you cannot bribe. He got expelled out of the PPP because Bharat Jagdeo and the rest saw him as a treat to the ideology of the party. He was the first to ask for the PPP constitution to be changed long before glastnost and parastryker long before Russia failed. He had the vision since then.
However, Ramjattans visit to the United States has not gone down well with pro government supporters.
A media campaign continues to portray the AFC as having a leadership struggle. The campaign highlights differences of opinions within the AFC relating to the forming of an alliance to contest the 2011 national elections.
But the AFC Presidential nominee hits back at critics, saying within the AFC there is healthy debate and this is a reflection of democracy at work, unlike the PPP and the PNC which are dictatorial.
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