AFC Region Ten Councillors contemplating participation in Council

Sources inside of the Alliance for Change Region Ten camp, have disclosed to this media house that they are contemplating their participation in the ninth Council of the RDC Region Ten. This, they said is because of what they described as an ‘open eye’ coup by APNU General Secretary Amna Ally.

They disclosed that a few hours before the swearing-in of the Regional Councillors and the election of Regional Chairman and Regional Vice Chairman, they were informed by Ms Ally that she had received a signed letter from the AFC’s General Secretary David Patterson, instructing that they unanimously support the APNU’s Vice Chairman’s choice.

“We found this very troubling and I know that one of my AFC colleagues questioned this so-called letter, as Ms Ally didn’t show us any letter but told us about it. We were already at the Watooka Guest House and therefore many of us were determined to go through with our plan of electing our choice as we were confident that Councillors were going to vote by way of a secret ballot,” one of the AFC’s Councillor said.

A source within the AFC speaking to www.aroundtheregions.com confirmed that the only regions that they were plans for were Regions Four and Seven, where it was agreed that the Regional Chairman will go to the APNU and the Regional Vice Chairman to the AFC. However, one of the AFC Region Ten Councillor said that in discussion with several senior party members of the AFC, it was agreed that there should be lively debate and discussion with the ‘best’ person being elected.

“We were all looking forward to an election as, while APNU senior party officials wanted Deron Adams, there were some Councillors within the APNU camp who felt that Deron wasn’t a good choice and like the Vice-Chairman position, there were going to be heated elections for this post,” the Councillor said.

He continued, “As a matter of fact many within the AFC felt that Douglas Gittens was a better choice and some of us were prepared to support him, while some had a different opinion.”

The Councillor when quizzed as to who they thought was going to be elected as the Regional Vice Chairman, was quick to point out that there were at least two persons from the AFC who was determined to go after each other. The former Regional Vice-Chairman in Elroy Adolph and Norris King. However, King immediately declined the nomination after one of his party members, Coretta Braithwaite nominated him. “This is pure nonsense and the reality is that APNU continues to destroy bridges and this will see persons walking away from the party as if they cannot honour agreements made between them and their coalition partners, what more can they honour,” an AFC Councillors asked.

The Councillor said that a meeting is expected to be held later this week where the party will examine several options. However, two Councillors expressed the view that the party (AFC) should operate independently within the RDC Region Ten Council, noting that the actions of the APNU and more, in particular, its General Secretary leaves much to be desired.

“This is not the ay mature and responsible politicians operate. We are of the view that the APNU/AFC is in operation so allow the Government of the day to do what it says it will do so as t the end we are not accused of stagnating progress or attempting to block the residents and people of Region Ten from a number of developmental projects, including jobs,” one of the evidently peeved Councillor said.

The Councillor added, “One admirable trait of the outgoing Regional Chairman is that he knew diplomacy very well and ensured that people came first in whatever he sought and or benefited from the government”.

It was disclosed that former Health Minister Volda Lawrence and former Advisor to former President David Granger, Aubrey Norton were in Linden on Saturday and Sunday where they met with several Councillors. The Councillors were told about the party wishes, however, several expressed disapproval as they felt that the Councillors should elect their choice. “Volda and Aubrey left on Sunday and we thought that on Monday everyone would go to the swearing-in with the objective of electing whoever best they think should be elected as many of us had told both Volda and Aubrey in no uncertain ways that we were not in support of their suggestions that they brought to us,” the source related.