AFC’s councillor Mark Goring has been elected Vice Chairman of Region 10, bypassing Coretta Braithwaite, a long-standing member of the party, who was nominated by the leadership of the Alliance For Change (AFC) for the position.
Leader of the Alliance For Change, Khemraj Ramjattan has said that the appointment of Mark Goring as Regional Vice Chairman is against the national executive decision of the party.
He told They Break News during a telephone conversation on Thursday that the Vice Chairman should have been Coretta Braithwaite.
“Our National Executive had indicated that Coretta Braithwaite ought to be the one nominated and seconded for the position of Vice Chair,” he noted.
He noted that members of the party will soon engage on the matter to decide on the way forward.
Earlier this year, Ramjattan had warned that there will be consequences if Braithwaite is not elected for the position. He noted that Braithwaite encountered resistance from some members of APNU upon being nominated for the office of Vice Chairman.
Nevertheless, the Leader of APNU, Aubrey Norton subsequently revealed that even though his party had agreed to elect an AFC Councillor to fill the position, that individual must have the full confidence of both sides.
“The issue is not whether it’s an AFC Vice Chairman, as the APNU has been disposed to an AFC Vice Chair but it must not be somebody that is dictated by the AFC, who doesn’t have the confidence of the APNU since they have to work together,” he explained.
In 2020, at the Region Four council elections, the APNU breached an agreement that would have resulted in the APNU attaining the Chairmanship of the Regional Democratic Council and the AFC, the Vice- Chairmanship. However, on election day, two of the APNU’s candidates, Daniel Seeram and Samuel Sandy were elected.
The region’s former Vice Chairman, Douglas Gittens died as a result of COVID-19 in June 2021, and since then the office has been vacant.
