AFC executive member Imran Khan yesterday said that he was within his rights to object to the arbitrary removal of his wife’s name from the delegates’ list for the party’s upcoming National Executive Conference (NEC) and has expressed confidence that this issue will be satisfactorily resolved by the Management Committee.
Khan broke his silence following media reports that he threatened to seek a court injunction to halt the June 15 NEC. This occurred on Saturday on the closing day for nominations.
“It would appear as though the delegate status of the Khan household is pre-occupying the time and thoughts of certain persons. This is an internal party matter and I have every confidence that it will be resolved,” he said in a Facebook post before indicating that given that the matter has made its way into the public domain, he felt it was appropriate to state the facts to debunk the “falsehoods, lies and misinformation being peddled.”
He, however, made no mention of the injunction or the claim that he made threats.
Party leader, Raphael Trotman told Stabroek News on Monday that he was not in a position to offer an informed comment as he was in Lethem. “I am hoping to gather more information later, but at this time, unable to add anything or to make any comment.”
Contacted yesterday, Trotman who is the Minister of Natural Resources said that the General Secretary has been asked to compile a report on all the submissions of delegates including, challenges to the management committee for final review in a “few days time.”
Khan, who is also the government’s Director of Public Information, in the post, which was also disseminated to members of the media, explained that he is a delegate to the NEC and was so nominated by the Region 4 Regional Management Committee.
His wife, Tamara Khan, who is the Secretary of Women For Change (WFC), the women’s arm of the AFC was duly included on the WFC list of delegates for submission, he said.
“Shortly prior to the submission of the WFC delegates list Mrs. Khan’s name was removed and replaced with another name. It was brought to her (attention) that her name was removed. The removal was done arbitrarily and dubiously, without consultation with the WFC executive. It is ludicrous that the WFC would submit a delegate list excluding its own Secretary,” he pointed out.
According to Khan, any suggestion that he made representation that his wife be included on the WFC delegate list simply because she is his spouse is false and ludicrous.
“My wife is the duly appointed Secretary of the WFC and for her to be willfully excluded as a delegate is an absurdity. I have absolutely no apologies to make for representing the interests of my wife on the basis that she, in her own right, on the basis of the position she holds within the WFC, is entitled to be a delegate. I would do same for anyone who suffered similar attempts at removal if they held an executive position and were duly entitled,” Khan said.
The NEC will be very important as it will be here that the party will determine who will be the Prime Ministerial candidate for the next general elections. In keeping with the Cummingsburg Accord, the AFC will be responsible for choosing the prime ministerial candidate.
Showdown
It would appear that there will be a showdown between Moses Nagamootoo who is the Prime Minister and the party’s Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan, who has already indicated his interest in the position.
Trotman had said that he supports Nagamootoo and warned that replacing him at this time could be seen as indicative of accepting that the APNU+AFC coalition has failed as a government.
In response to this, Ramjattan had noted that it was Trotman’s personal opinion and, therefore, should not be construed as a party stance since there was no decision as yet on the matter.
Trotman had explained that his support for Nagamootoo stemmed from his belief that replacing him would be seen as an acceptance by government that it had failed and that the opposition’s no-confidence motion against it from last December was justified. Ramjattan last month reiterated his interest in being the prime ministerial candidate in the next elections.
“Yes, I have already indicated my interest and there are others, I am certain, who will indicate their interest and so it is going to be interesting, I rather suspect, and it is good to have inside of political parties the regular rivalries between leaders,” Ramjattan said in response to a question from Stabroek News during a press conference held at the AFC’s Kitty headquarters on May 3.
He said the general practice is that recommendations are made at the National Conference and a candidate is then selected. The Public Security Minister insisted that if selected, he will be up to the task. “Of course, I think I will be,” he said.
