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Ramjattan leader and chairman, Trotman presidential candidate
By Miranda La Rose (Stabroek News)
Sunday, October 30th 2005
Khemraj Ramjattan is the Leader and Chairman of the newly-launched Alliance For Change (AFC), while his colleague Raphael Trotman, is the party's presidential candidate.
The announcements were made at the official launching of the party at the Ocean View Hotel and Convention Centre, Liliendaal yesterday morning. Trotman, who along with Ramjattan outlined the party's vision, said the ceremony was not the launching of a political party but the birth of a movement of consciousness that says the people have had enough and want their due of respect, equality, prosperity and security.
WPA MP Sheila Holder, who worked with the AFC in its establishment, chaired the programme which included prayers by the three major religious groups, Christian, Hindu and Muslim. The packed auditorium included special invitees, members of the diplomatic community and members of the AFC from various parts of the country. The auditorium was decorated in the party's green and gold colours.
Twenty-two year-old Ryan Samuels gave his perspective on the AFC, saying he had felt "left out" of the older political parties and as such had opted to join the AFC instead.
The AFC's leadership style would see its prime ministerial and presidential candidates, if successful in their bid to form a government, each hold office for half a term. After that they would switch posts.
Similarly, Ramjattan said, if the presidential candidate were only to be elected opposition leader, that office too would be held by the presidential candidate for half the term and thereafter be transferred to the prime ministerial candidate.
He said the party took this position conscious that unless innovation in political procedure and arrangements was created, the racial and ethnic divide would persist. These decisions, he said, were agreed to by the party's steering committee and were to be ratified by the party's membership.
Apart from Holder, Ramjattan and Trotman, the party's steering committee includes attorney-at-law, Gaumattie Singh; television station owner, Anthony Vieira; administrator, Chantalle Smith and economist and former finance minister in the PPP/C administration, Asgar Ally.
Strategic goals
Outlining the party's strategic goals, Ramjattan listed one of them as being improving the living standards of Guyanese from US$600 per capita to US$6,000 per capita within ten years. This was to be done through the introduction of information technology and market linkages, and then through high productivity.
The party intends to achieve balanced and sustainable development of all regions and all people as far as possible; ensure an economically just society in which there is fair and equitable distribution of the wealth of the nation and full partnership in economic progress; and substantial investment in education and human resources to support the needs of the changing society and a competitive economy.
The party also intends to restore independence, confidence and integrity to the existing government and state institutions and to establish new and appropriate institutions to protect and advance the constitutional rights and freedoms of all Guyanese. It also aims to reconfigure and strengthen the processes and institutions which would enhance and guarantee the people's representation; and bring respectability to the judicial process and the rule of law by the timely dispensation of justice.
Ramjattan said an action plan along with mechanisms and processes to realize these strategic goals was far from complete, but a major effort was ongoing to ensure completion within a couple of months. The AFC would conduct a public consultation with major stakeholders in determining its final action plan in relation to its economic, social and political platform. This was mandatory in view of the demand for a new dispensation in Guyana's politics, he said.
Referring to the view held by some that they had been sluggish, Ramjattan assured the audience that they had actually been hard at work, understanding and formulating a cluster of strategic goals to make Guyana develop as a nation.
He addressed the issue of a diversified agricultural sector and industrialisation in relation to the AFC economic platform, which, he said, was based largely on private sector enterprise with the state being the facilitator.
Noting that the National Development Strategy was still a useful document, he said the basic building blocks and guiding principles on which the strategy had been based no longer existed, and there was need to revise its strategies and policies.
Noting that funds were available to achieve the party's strategic goals, Ramjattan said an analysis of the state's finances revealed that $.2 billion per month was lost through ill-advised and misconceived enforcement procedures at almost every revenue-collecting institution, the biggest being the Guyana Revenue Authority. With the political will, he said, this situation could be corrected.
Additionally, the Guyanese diaspora's contribution through remittances was another source to tap for nation building. The adoption of innovative methods to "fund ourselves out of poverty" was not being done by the government at present, though the head of the Poverty Alleviation Committee was paid the sum of about $2.6 million per month.
Vision
Apologising for levelling accusations at the PNCR over the attacks on his home recently, Trotman said: "We have become impatient and intemperate making utterances that are hurtful and unnecessary, as even I have regrettably done quite recently. Like a spent arrow, the spoken word could never be recalled but one should be able to say sorry."
Addressing concerns and discussions about his continued involvement in the affairs of the National Assembly, Trotman said that as Speaker Ralph Ramkarran had given his ruling on the matter of his disqualification, he believed the time was propitious for Leader of the PNCR Robert Corbin and himself to meet, "as he recently proposed, to discuss and decide as mature and responsible representatives of our respective constituencies, my resignation from the Assembly. I hope that he would keep his promise to meet and speak."
While he awaits that information, he said he intended to keep himself gainfully occupied with the people's business by advancing the cause of public access to information, accountability and transparency in government.
He spoke too of the crime situation in Guyana and the need to mount a strong and united defence against it; the need for indigenous peoples to be recognized and accepted as the first peoples of Guyana entitled to recognition and respect and not handouts and prescriptions; and of a tiredness with the old politics.
He outlined the party's vision which he said was no different from that of Martin Luther King Jnr's dream for the betterment of the people.
Noting that in recent times, he and Ramjattan had been described as "wish-wash rejects" and would be accused of every possible crime and vice, he said that if there were believers, Psalm 118 reminded us that "the stone which the builder refused is to become the headstone of the corner."
He said that having walked the country and listened to the voices of the people, the AFC believed that Guyanese wanted the emergence of a new political consciousness and a wholesome form of government which would peel away the layers of old hatreds and old wrongs, political recrimination, finger-pointing, killings, corruption, mismanagement and lawlessness. The AFC, he said, intends to bring this vision into reality.
Interest of the people
Also addressing the issue of seats in Parliament, Ramjattan said when they were elected members of the National Assembly, their respective parties regarded them as worthy representatives of the people. "Surely it cannot be presumed that we were selected into the National Assembly to represent our respective party's interest over and above the people's interest or the national interest. This is precisely why the party which selected us cannot terminate our duty to represent the people and the national interest in the National Assembly on the ground of party disaffiliation." He added that the constitution did not give power of removal to political parties.
He said there was constitutional recognition of the fact that in the National Assembly the interest of the people was greater than the interest of the party. That was why there was no prohibition against any member of the National Assembly voting inconsistently with the party's other members, or refraining from voting consistently with them.
He argued those MPs who perceived themselves as representatives of their respective parties rather than representatives of the people were subscribers to the concept of party paramountcy and the democratic centralist doctrine, and were corroding and eroding the essence of parliamentary democracy. As such, he said, the call for himself and Trotman to vacate their seats on the narrow grounds of disaffiliation from parties was misconceived.
He gave the assurance that they would continue to occupy their seats in Parliament until such time as they individually decided to vacate, "if ever we so decide."
He said that because of old contorted politics, national interest was being subverted for partisan party interests. For that reason, the Procurement Commission was not constituted or operational so that awards of contracts were not scrutinised, among other reasons.
The launching ceremony also featured a number of greetings from friends and well-wishers in India, Italy, the United Kingdom, the USA, Canada, Grenada, the Cayman Islands, Finland and Denmark.
There was also a video documentary of greetings from the local constituency from various parts of the country and a Hilton Hemerding song sung by Sharon Archer with musical accompaniment by Trevor John.
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