Former Alliance for Change (AFC), Member of Parliament, Audwin Rutherford, has resigned from the party with immediate effect, saying that he believes he is not needed in the party or the Coalition, neither at a regional or national level.
Rutherford, who joined the party in 2005, says that there are several factors which resulted in him penning his resignation and he prefers to part ways than to struggle to be part of a movement, where he is seen as an enemy to his fellow party colleagues. He in fact believes that members of the PNCR and AFC in Region Ten, see themselves as enemies more than friends. “Being an AFC is being an enemy to the PNC, [but] a lot of our members are becoming subservient and following the will of the PNC,” he said.
To make his point, he alluded to the AFC being denied the Vice Chairman position on the Regional Democratic Council, but believes that it was fair to allocate the AFC five seats. “I think it was very much unfair not to be given the Vice Chair and our executives were comfortable with us not getting it,” he said, saying they didn’t fight for it.
A similar situation played out in Region Four, where the AFC was also denied the Vice Chairmanship for the RDC, which was the primary reason for the General Secretary, David Patterson resigning. Rutherford who served for one term as Member of Parliament, said that he was even surprised to see his name on the regional list since he was sidelined even during the campaign season. Region Ten’s campaign was managed by former Director of Parks Lawrence London. He said he was not embraced in the whole methodology of the campaign and because he is not one that has to depend on politics for a living, he cannot sit and be in disagreement with something and not say. He believes that the Coalition politics does not give space for outspokenness.
One of the things he is against, is councillors bidding for contracts on the RDC, LMTC or NDC and is calling on his former colleagues to not get involved in what can be deemed a conflict of interest. When asked whether he resigned because he was not chosen to return to the National Assembly to serve, Rutherford responded in the negative, saying that he has a job and had no interest in returning. He just wanted to serve, but he is not even allowed to do that. He however is hoping that those representing the people in the various tiers of government for the AFC, will do so for the party and not for themselves. “I wish them well, ” he said. Rutherford. Devin Sears is representing Region 10 for the AFC.
