The Alliance For Change launched its election campaign during its North American tour last Friday, underlining a National Diaspora Policy and it pledged to root out crime by inviting the US DEA among others.
At what the AFC said was a packed banquet hall in Richmond Hill, Queens, AFC leader Raphael Trotman stated that he will hold his presidential candidate Khemraj Ramjattan “responsible for the devolution of the powers of the President of Guyana within the first year of the new AFC government,” according to an AFC press release.
Expanding on his theme, Trotman emphasized that “it is AFC’s plan to see a president who will be the custodian of the Constitution and the vehicle for the preservation of the independence and power of the national institutions while the Prime Minister will become the Head of the Government, accountable to the people’s representatives in the National Assembly.”
Trotman stated also that the AFC will establish a National Diaspora Policy that will facilitate the utilization of the resources of the Diaspora in a meaningful manner for the good of the Guyanese state while exploring parliamentary representation and voting.
Meanwhile, Trotman in what was described as a well received presentation assured the audience that he will personally take responsibility as Leader of the AFC for arresting the crime wave in Guyana by whatever means necessary with whatever legal means it takes, including inviting the DEA, Scotland Yard and Indian Police.
The objective of the AFC government will be to stamp out organized crime in Guyana, he asserted.
Trotman undertook also to mobilize the Diaspora since he posited that the AFC cannot develop Guyana alone and there is need in the country for the talent and financial resources of the Diaspora.
According to the release, the response to the AFC in New York was overwhelming, and significant funds were raised and there was excitement too about the changes the party promises to bring to Guyana.
Meanwhile, Presidential candidate Ramjattan told his audience that the AFC policy is to educate Guyanese and to make the University of Guyana an accredited research institute to find solutions to the country’s developmental challenges in an intelligent way.
Ramjattan in his feature address emphasized the urgent imperative for racial unity among all Guyanese, both at home and in the Diaspora. He also expressed hope that the Facebook and Twitter generation has no time for what he called “the racist politics” of the PNC and PPP and that the youths will drive the change that is coming to Guyana.
He added that he is on the road in Guyana “to encourage all Guyanese of all races not to fear one another but to do what it takes to mould our nation into a more harmonious and progressive one.”
However, he observed that there is an emerging class of people in Guyana who are accumulating huge sums of money without working and so there is a total breakdown in the work ethic as a result of the masses recognizing the unfairness of the system perpetuated by the current government.
He also noted that the Diaspora is important to the process of evolving
Guyana’s knowledge needs by their investments in education here to create the critical mass of knowledge workers to take the country to the next level.
Ramjattan said Guyana cannot continue losing the majority of the country’s best minds to the developed world and he encouraged the Diaspora members to read the AFC Action Plan and help the party to build a new Guyana under an AFC government.
Ramjattan spoke of how his presidency will be guided by the AFC’s philosophy of liberal democracy which will preserve the independence of national institutions, keep in check the lobbying power of vested interests, and preserve the civil and human rights of the people.
“No more will an investor have to be the business buddy of the President to invest in Guyana, the entire process will be professionalized under an AFC government. No longer will illegal investments be made in Guyana and then the government after the facts changes the law to regularize these illegal acts. No longer will millions of dollars be awarded to so-called contractors for a road when the contractor has no skill, talent or resource to build that road as in the case of the Amaila Falls Road.”
Other speakers at the launch included Campaign Director Salim Nausrudeen, AFC Executive Member Dominic Gaskin, AFC NY/NJ Executive Members Lionel Peters, Professor Shamir Ally, Ewart Marshall, and Latchman Singh, the release added.
