Alliance for Change (AFC) Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan says his party does not intend to give up its House seats even as it looks to part ways at the end of this year with the multi-partied A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).
While some political commentators have predicted the possible mounting of litigation to oust the AFC from the main Parliamentary Opposition, Ramjattan said he foresees no legal challenges, adding that the APNU is aware that those seats were earned by AFC.
He hastened to add that the AFC’s ability to scrutinise the government’s management of the country would be affected if it vacates its seats in the House.
“No, we’re not going to give up our seats. Those seats were earned and the APNU people will know that. Why should we want to give up our parliamentary seats? Being in opposition now is a good platform to carry out opposition works against the government to scrutinise them and to ensure that they abide by the rule of law. No! We’re not going to give up our parliamentary seats,” he said during a press conference today.
Ramjattan made it clear that even after the split, the AFC will still work with the APNU.
“I don’t see anything that will affect our parliamentary relationship in opposition and I am unafraid of the so-called chatterati talking about consequences and so on, on our nine parliamentarians. I don’t feel like that would happen at all. As I have indicated, even though the termination will come at the end of the year – as our conference has now decided – we will still have working relationships with the APNU,” he noted.
The APNU and the AFC coalesced in 2015 to secure a win at the poll, ending over two decades of People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) rule. The coalition went on to lose the 2020 election to the PPP/C amid allegations of rigging, back-to-back litigation and local and international clamour for the restoration of democracy. The Working Peoples Alliance (WPA) and the Justice for All Party (JFAP) subsequently parted ways with the APNU. However, two former Coalition Ministers, ex-WPA member Tabitha Sarabo-Halley and the former JFAP Member and ex-Infrastructure Minister, Jaipaul Sharma went on to form their own parties and have since merged with the APNU. Sharma now leads the Equal Rights and Justice Party (ERJP), while Sarabo-Halley heads the Guyana Nation Builders Movement (GNBM).
