More compelling truths lately
Kaieteur News – In last Friday’s column, I came up with nine truths about politics in Guyana that history should record. Surely you think that list is exhaustive. Here are more truths. But one small digression is in order. I think and know that the APNU + AFC is far more corrupt than in any era when the PPP was in power.
The APNU + AFC government was the most corrupt in Guyana history. AFC personnel, high up, stole in their own right so imagine what they did between 2015 – 2020, when they were in charge of Guyana resources. We here in Guyana have not seen the tip of the iceberg.
True # 10 – The largest foreign investor in Guyana history donated money to a certain AFC high priest for the 2020 election campaign. The AFC never saw a percentage.
T # 11 – David Patterson, Cathy Hughes and Raphael Trotman refused to return to parliament in September 2020. The chairman of the AFC regional management committee for Region Four, Amar Chinkan, told me that he was part of the persuasive debate that they had changed their mind. Why they chose that route would probably remain a secret. Were they seeking something for the gallery to ask them to stay?
T # 12 – At the 2016 AFC congress at St. Paul’s Church in Plaisance in 2018, the funniest moment in the history of party congresses occurred in Guyana. There has never been any similar event in congress of any party like this. After announcing the competition for leadership positions, Raphael Trotman rejected his nomination for chair and stated that he does not want any leadership position.
Trotman had not finished speaking when pandemonium broke out. If you want to see people acting like jassasses you have to see the video. Delegates started bawling, “No, Raphael, no Raphael, no.” Such a shout that PNC senator Jennifer Wade got her when in the no confidence motion, she kept shouting, “No Charran no, no Charran, no.” Others began to rub their heads on the wall and pretended, “Oh gawd, we leadah gaan.” They were saying this right in front of AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan.
The cry was so loud that the church caretaker ran into the building to find out if someone had fallen. The AFC bigwigs took Trotman into a room, shut the door and after half an hour, Trotman emerged with the identical smile that Madam GECOM Chairman wore when he came out of a locked room in the Ashmin building during the election rigging on a Tuesday night. 5. Trotman played dead to see what the funeral would look like. A smile can say a thousand words.
T # 13- A big one in the PNC is a U.S. citizen. But this gentleman knows that it is very difficult to investigate the matter to find out that fact. This needs to be reiterated for emphasis – the US citizen is currently a levy in the PNC and therefore should not have been an election candidate.
T # 14 – It is well known in high political circles in the APNU + AFC government that if you wanted a certain type of document, the son of a big one would make the arrangement in exchange for humorous amounts. This columnist knows a farmer who went through that route.
T # 15 – A female mandarin in APNU + AFC rank had her assistant open any door in any building she was entering or the gate of any path she was passing through. The driver was almost like a slave. This columnist approached her and told her it was nonsense what she was doing and to abstain. She never did. Life is funny. This fake aristocrat has no five CXC subjects to enter public service.
T # 16 – From 2015, the AFC twice sought a Deputy Minister in Ministry who, according to the Cummingsburg Agreement, was assigned to the AFC – Agriculture. On both occasions, President Granger himself denied the AFC’s requests, which, according to the fine prints in the Cummingsburg Treaty, did not have political authority to deny it because it was a coalition government that the Ministry assigned to the AFC. What proved this story was that Khemraj Ramjattan was remarkably precocious. He said if the AFC joined the PNC it would become dead meat. Not only was the meat dead, it smelled and was infected with the Ebola virus.
We end with a truth that is yet to be known. Henry Jeffrey and Ralph Ramkarran formed ANUG to challenge the 2020 election. Jeffrey then became a fierce defender of the PNC’s position in the election saga. Tell us Ralph, why did Jeffrey leave ANUG?
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper.)