By Abena Rockcliffe
I am guilty of taking Azruddin Mohamed’s popularity with a pinch of salt. I reasoned that the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) is performing well enough to maintain its support base; and, the “scrapes”, who seem to rally behind the sanctioned US-businessman, are not known to have the discipline to wake early or join long lines to exercise their franchise.
Guyana does not recognize political pundits per se. But learned onlookers assessing the political landscape have long predicted a PPP/C victory at the upcoming elections. The incumbent government appears ahead of its game in all aspects.
But the PPP appears to know something the rest of us don’t as it continues to expend political capital and actual dollars to combat a seemingly invisible threat posed by Mohamed.
This week, Guyanese witnessed perhaps the first notable setback for the incumbent in this election season. News broke that in December 2024, the PPP/C government hired a Washington DC lobbying firm at a cost of US$50,000 per month. That firm, claiming to be acting on behalf of the government, dispatched a series of “draft tweets” to US Congress officials for them to use, all targeting Mohamed of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party. Based on the prepared tweets, the aim is to paint Mohamed as an agent of Venezuela’s President, Nicolas Maduro, a “Maduro puppet.”
Since the news broke, there has been one perceived embarrassment after the other. About 24 hours after the revelation, President Dr. Irfaan Ali was questioned on the sidelines of another event. The President appeared woefully unprepared to the extent that he lashed out at the reporter grilling him on the lobbying firm as if he was trying to emulate Donald Trump. The president’s response was as if the news broke without his knowledge and he was caught off guard. One would have thought that the PPP, being the well-oiled political machine it presents as, would have strategized an appropriate response overnight, before the president made his next public appearance.
You think the president ended there? Nope! Guyana’s Chief of Staff then hopped on a Facebook live where he did not address the issue at hand but basically painted Mohamed as a risk to national security. There it was, the president saying his government knows Mohamed to be a risk to national security with links to Venezuela at a time when that Spanish-speaking nation wants to covet 75 percent of our country. Yet, Mohamed is allowed to carry out his operation and run for president.
Then, the learned Attorney General, Anil Nandlall said on his programme, Issues in the News, that the warnings of the American politicians should be taken seriously. He said congress officials do their own research and the tweets would be in keeping with such. So why then the need for the tweets to be spoon-fed to them? The government has not merely sought advocacy. The tweets were prewritten.
When mayhem broke loose the other day, and persons masquerading as protesters started to loot and prey on innocent people, the government authorized the police force to charge those persons under the laws of terrorism. But, in this instance, the government is in possession of credible information that Mohamed is a “Maduro’s puppet” and allows him to roam free?
It’s one of two things.
Possibility A, Mohamed is a traitor?
The government is allowing Mohamed to operate knowing he is a risk to the security of this great nation. By extension, the government is allowing Maduro to make inroads in our country, corrupting our citizens. The government is simply leaving the security of this nation up to providence, running the high risk of stepping in when it is too late.
Or, Possibility B, Mohamed is a threat?
In this scenario, all this maneuvering is simply a tactic for the citizenry to cast Mohamed into a corner. By linking him to Maduro, you drive fear and contempt into the hearts of Guyanese.
This author is unable to determine which is it. But aligning Mohamed with Maduro is as bad a move politically, as it is good.
The good is obvious, being aligned with Guyana’s worst enemy is a shame and disgrace. The government tried this strategy with Aubrey Norton when he withheld support for a motion. The Minister of Foreign Affairs called Norton Maduro’s best friend.
The bad is, the government will inadvertently reduce the confidence citizens have in the incumbent to keep us safe. Unless the plan is to use these tweets as reason to charge Mohamed for treason or terrorism, then the move can backfire.
But why exert all this effort and money to muddy the waters of a political novice whose business empire seems to be crumbling? Is the PPP/C being extra careful or does it know something the rest of us don’t? Is Mohamed making inroads in PPP strongholds?
