
GEORGETOWN, GUYANA – Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader Nigel Hughes is making it clear that the AFC is not just another political option, it’s a break from the old ways of both the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC).
Speaking on Context, a current affairs programme hosted by veteran journalist Enrico Woolford, Hughes said while the PPP and PNC are stuck in outdated political habits, the AFC offers a different kind of leadership, one grounded in data, consultation, and structural reform.
“Our approach is inclusive. We don’t assume that we have all the intellectual resources to run the country,” Hughes said. “That’s what sets us apart from the PNC, and from the PPP.”
He added that while both of the larger parties promise transformation, neither is offering a realistic, long-term path to get there. “We believe our development trajectory should be driven by data. You should have a State Planning Secretary… Our fundamental difference with [the PPP/C] is that there’s no long-term plan,” Hughes said, adding that the ruling party hasn’t produced a 10- to 15-year framework for Guyana’s development.
Hughes also criticised the PPP’s aversion to collaboration, noting that even now, it has never consulted with Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton on national matters. “If I were privileged enough to become president, I would be consulting with the opposition parties and civil society every month or every six weeks, because this is a collective effort. That’s not the approach of the People’s Progressive Party,” he said.
The AFC Leader wasn’t shy about drawing distinctions from the PNC either. He said his party has consistently advocated for fundamental change, especially when it comes to constitutional reform. He recalled that while in office alongside the APNU coalition, then-Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo commissioned a report on restructuring executive power. The report was shelved, but Hughes insists the issue remains central to the AFC’s agenda.
“In a multi-ethnic country like Guyana, a system where all executive power goes to whoever gets the most votes does not promote unity or good governance,” he argued. “Even if you get 40 out of 100 votes, you get all the executive power. That is no longer, if it ever was, relevant.”
Hughes said Guyana should follow a model closer to Suriname’s, where a president must have the support of 60% of the Parliament. “So for us, constitutional reform is absolutely fundamental,” he said.
He also lamented that neither the PPP nor the PNC had taken this approach seriously. “This is not the messaging of the APNU,” Hughes added. “That’s why I say the AFC is a completely different political animal.”