Dear Editor,
First of all I want to congratulate the leaders of the Alliance for Change (AFC) who had the wisdom and foresight to broker the Cummingsburg Accord which is still going strong with APNU+AFC. This accord which was one year old on February 14, saw the beginning of the end of 23 years rule by the PPP. It was also a turning point for the nation with the 6 races coming together after 50 years of separation and strife. History was created on that day as some political pundits and analysts believed that APNU+AFC could not beat the PPP.
Most of all, some who were supporters of the Alliance for Change (AFC) felt that it was a fatal move teaming up with APNU, and were undecided on voting day, while others I think went back into the fold of the PPP not wanting a coalition government. They strongly believed that if the AFC went on its own ticket, it could have won the elections beating APNU and the PPP. Some people who knew me from the AFC camp, kept contacting me on social media, while others kept calling me on the phone asking for answers as to whether the AFC was making the right decision going into a coalition.
I told them that the only way to dethrone the PPP was for the two parties to go on the one ticket. They were fearful that the Cummingsburg Accord would fail after the win, and APNU would overthrow the AFC before the 5 years were up, or afterwards as Burnham’s PNC did with Peter D’Aguiar’s UF, and take control of the government. These were hard questions for me. I had to convince them that was the only way to beat the PPP, and that the AFC had a battery of good lawyers in Nigel Hughes, Raphael Trotman, Khemraj Ramjattan (the leader) and Moses Nagamootoo, who wouldn’t enter into a weak accord.
I think that I helped to convince the majority to whom I spoke on that score, but some of them were wavering as the elections drew nearer. The results were evident with a one-seat win for APNU+AFC. The PPP was a powerful force to be reckoned with; they had the money, they controlled key media, money was easy to come by, and their rallies became mobile excursions with free food, music, jerseys, money and transportation. So when you look back, I think it was a sensible thing to broker the Cummingsburg Accord.The new coalition APNU+AFC government within a short time had miraculous achievements and presented two budgets within 10 months.
It was evident that Mr Donald Ramotar himself was confident of winning the presidency and of controlling the parliament. Even while arguing that the PPP were bad losers, it is the belief of APNU+AFC that the 2015 elections had brought to the fore the issue of racial insecurity which should be dealt with urgently. Today more and more Indo-Guyanese middle-class people and even the rank and file, have been moving away from the notion that the problem in Guyana is the results of the elections.
It is my honest opinion that accord is working well with the 60-40 allocation of ministerial positions and state boards, and the AFC gaining the Prime Minister in Moses Nagamootoo; Khemraj Ramjattan being the Minister of Public Security; David Patterson, Minister of Public Infrastructure; Cathy Hughes, Minister of Tourism and Communications; Noel Holder, Minister of Agriculture; and Raphael Trotman, Minister of Natural Resources and Governance ‒ these are key positions in any government .
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
