AFC withholds goodwill from Devine Sears

IN A SEASON OF GOODWILL there is none for Devine Sears from his Alliance For Change
(AFC) peers who condemn him as a political vagrant-turned-opportunist engineering the collapse
of his party in the bauxite mining town of Linden.
“Devine is aware that he can’t get back into the PPP as in 2015 he served as the PPP Public
Relations Officer (PRO) in Region Ten and they have no interest in him. Further with the AFC
being very shaky with members leaving and others expressing no faith in him he is seeking to
shelter under (Peoples National, Congress [PNC] Chairman) Volda (Lawrence) as he sees her
being a safe person to hide behind,” a AFC member speaking on strict conditions of anonymity
to www.aroundtheregions.com.
Sears, AFC members alleged, is now seeking to form an allegiance with Lawrence in a bid to
become a PNC member.
The disgruntled AFC insider blasted Sears for the collapse of morale in their party which saw a
paltry seven persons from Region Ten turning out to their recent Regional Management
Committee (RMC) meeting he organised.
The third leading political party in the multi-ethnic independent Republic plans serious soul
searching to justify their continued existence and receiving financial contributions from
dissatisfied members who feel their monies are “being wasted” in part due to the reluctance of
AFC heavy weights, Mr. Khemraj Ramjatan and Mr. Raphael Trotman, both lawyers, to make
radical changes.
The AFC is “already a dead party in Region Ten” (Upper Demerara- Berbice), the upset member
said in the exclusive interview.
Sources within the mining town pilloried Sears for his lukewarmness and indifference to
organising the failed RMC caucus which was a shock to a bewildered Mr. Sherod Duncan who

was among the seven members who showed up for the anticipated event following the coalition’s
trouncing at the March National and Regional polls.
“I believe that if Devine had organized this meeting properly and sought to inform the
membership then we would have gotten far more than the seven persons that turned up. This is
certainly an insult as even to Sherod Duncan who was in attendance was bewildered by what he
saw and enquired as to what have become of the members,” the AFC member said.
Duncan and Ramjattan were the only two officials that attended from Georgetown, while several
prominent members and officials from the Region Ten group including Regional Councillors
Mark Goring and Michelle Daniels; Norville Fredricks who is the other AFC Councillor on the
Mayor and Town Councill stayed away. Region Ten Municipal Councillor, Mr. Roger Kingston
attended.
Members believe Sears engineered sabotaging the meeting to prevent members complaining
about the party and its leadership in Region Ten. Sears, they contend, may be seeking to prove
his loyalty to Mrs. Lawrence by secretly masterminding the dismantling the AFC in the
formidable PNC stronghold.
“Something has to be wrong with the leadership from Georgetown because it’s evident that
Sears, Goring and a few others interest are no longer with the party but seems to have interest
elsewhere. We were informed that Goring, Kingston and Michelle Daniels have expressed
rejoining the PPP. While we brought this to the attention of our leaders in Georgetown, they have
dismissed our concerns. I hope they realise that Charrandass (Persaud, whose vote with the then-
opposition  PPP led to the eventual collapse of the APNU+AFC coalition government) was with
the AFC” the member stated during the interview.
Those who turned up for the aborted meeting complained bitterly to Ramjattan and Duncan
about Sears and they promised an investigation.
Meanwhile Sears turned up three hours late for the meeting drawing the ire of Duncan.
“Sherod Duncan asked him: Devine why are you three hours late for a meeting that you
organised? It seems to us (in attendance) that you were hoping that the meeting would have

finished and we would have returned to Georgetown,” Duncan told Sears who was unable to
provide any explanation.
“It seems that Khemraj was afraid to tell Devine that his actions were unacceptable. We are
hoping that Sherod’s promise to address the matter is forthcoming as we all wait to see what he
(Sherod) would have placed into the minutes because people are just tired of this kind of
behaviour,” the member said.
Sears, Goring and Kingston are all under the AFC microscope as former PPP members.
Well-placed operatives in the AFC believe the trio are poised to return to their original
political fold.