Ramayya quits AFC; Ramjattan says govt can’t afford “jobs for the boys” syndrome

Last Updated on Monday, 10 August 2015, 12:55 by GxMedia

Prominent executive member of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Dr. Veerasammy Ramayya has quit the party over the failure of the party to find lucrative jobs for hardworking campaigners, but party leader Khemraj Ramjattan on Monday ruled out “jobs for the boys.”

“It is about serving the people rather than looking for money…I thought that he wanted to serve and all the indications were that he was going to serve but we are not going to simply condemn him; he is a very hard working fellow,” said Ramjattan, a Vice President and Minister of Public Security.

“It is not jobs for the boys and an exchange or we would do worse than what the PPP (People’s Progressive Party) has done,” he added.

Ramjattan confirmed a report by the privately-owned Stabroek News newspaper that Ramayya was offered a GUY$180,000 job by Prime Minister Moses Nagamoootoo, a post that the well-known AFC campaigner in Berbice rejected. It did not include a vehicle and chaffeur. Expressing grave disappointment in Ramayya’s posture, Ramjattan recalled appealing to him to take that job because “things can get better.”

The party leader noted that the AFC “lost Berbice; what else could we do?” “You just can’t go and create vacancies to go and fill jobs that can afford plenty money. That is not part of my style. We just do not and cannot and should not do that,” he said.

Saying that he would try to “appease” Ramayya, Ramjattan conceded that Ramayya’s departure would affect the AFC’s work in East Berbice. “I am certain that it will have an impact because he is very, very hard working and we are really going to have a loss,” he said.

The AFC is in a coalition with the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR)-dominated A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).