The opposition Alliance For Change (AFC) is once again besieged by serious internal conflict. On this occasion it came to the fore after former House Speaker Ralph Ramkarran wrote in his weekly column that the Speaker of the National Assembly cannot, without any justification, wear the hats of List Representative and Speaker at the same time.Ramkarran posited that that a “novel situation” has arisen with Speaker Trotman also being the AFC leader and Representative of its List. “In these capacities he is the leading official and chief spokesperson of the AFC,” the former Speaker noted. “He can also remove any Member of Parliament of the AFC and replace him or her. Mr. Trotman may find great difficulty in publicly reconciling the position of Speaker with those of Leader and List Representative of the AFC" he wrote.
This position quickly found favour with AFC Chairman and presidential candidate, Khemraj Ramjattan who concurred with this view and further said, “I am in agreement with that, we’ll have to deal with that at some point in time”.
However when pressed for a comment on the matter Trotman responded by shrugging off those concerns and saying that it might be part of moves by some AFC parliamentarians to cross the floor. He said “there is really a grand scheme afoot to have some members of the AFC cross the floor and there is great concern about what Trotman will do and so this could very well be an attempt to disarm me or dislodge me as Representative beforehand”. He is also of the view that an attempt is being made to get rid of him because of other machinations afoot.
This is not the first occasion that this small party has had to battle with internal frictions. Trotman had initially refused to adhere to an agreed on leadership rotation principle and only did so after a serious anti-Trotman internal campaign was waged by several of the party's heavy weights and overseas based financiers. He then refused to accept the prime ministerial candidacy citing ill health but quickly recovered to take up the position after the death of Sheila Holder.
This position quickly found favour with AFC Chairman and presidential candidate, Khemraj Ramjattan who concurred with this view and further said, “I am in agreement with that, we’ll have to deal with that at some point in time”.
However when pressed for a comment on the matter Trotman responded by shrugging off those concerns and saying that it might be part of moves by some AFC parliamentarians to cross the floor. He said “there is really a grand scheme afoot to have some members of the AFC cross the floor and there is great concern about what Trotman will do and so this could very well be an attempt to disarm me or dislodge me as Representative beforehand”. He is also of the view that an attempt is being made to get rid of him because of other machinations afoot.
This is not the first occasion that this small party has had to battle with internal frictions. Trotman had initially refused to adhere to an agreed on leadership rotation principle and only did so after a serious anti-Trotman internal campaign was waged by several of the party's heavy weights and overseas based financiers. He then refused to accept the prime ministerial candidacy citing ill health but quickly recovered to take up the position after the death of Sheila Holder.
Tortman is being wrong and strong at the same time cause it is clear that he don't want Ramjattan to be the leader or have no say.
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