Dear Editor

ON Monday I had some free time on my hand. It was just one of those days: sluggish, boring, unproductive and forgettable. Kind of like Irfaan Ali. As a result, I did some research; research to determine the average time it takes to form and launch a political party. This research does not imply that I have elected-office ambitions. The fact is that I will be proudly sporting that green and yellow until I’m dead like FED-UP. My reason for undertaking this research was an attempt to rationalise the enigma, Nigel Hinds.

Forming a political party is an arduous process that can take months, if not years. There are many managerial and legal hurdles to overcome. These include but are not limited to, meetings after meetings to determine the party’s ideology, funding, party’s symbol, leader and deputy leader, identifying target groups, determining optimal method of communicate messages, launching, sponsorship, etc. I am not sure how long Badal and Hinds took to get through these processes, but let’s assume it started in June 2019 when the CCJ made its ruling. It is at that point that most Guyanese recognised that elections are imminent.

Let’s examine more closely the formation of Change Guyana. Remember we agreed that it likely started in June 2019. At this time Nigel Hinds must have known that he is a dual citizen. He must have been aware that it would take months to renounce his American citizenship. The question is, what a reasonable person and someone with serious political ambitions in Guyana would have done? In my opinion, a reasonable person would have started the process in June 2019, or soon after. Nigel did not. How do we know that? He is still an American citizen and if he had started the process in June, in all likelihood it would have been completed by now.

What about Badal? What a reasonable presidential candidate would have done before selecting his PM candidate? He would have thoroughly vetted him/her and at a minimum, he would have ensured that his prime ministerial candidate fulfilled all the legal requirements to be PM. Apparently Badal never did, despite the fact that dual citizenship was very topical in 2019, as a consequence of the CCJ’s ruling. This represents very poor leadership by Robert Badal, just when I thought that TCI was the only headless, visionless, directionless and hopeless political party in Guyana. Nigel Hinds said, on multiple occasions, that if he is fortunate to become prime minister, he would not have accepted his monthly wages, since he is already wealthy. He said this knowing pretty well that he cannot be PM since he has dual citizenship. Robert Badal said the same. A massive deception.

Hinds accompanied Badal on Nomination Day knowing that he was not eligible to be on the Change Guyana list. He argued that his name was not on the list so he had not committed a crime. That’s irrelevant Nigel, it is the intent; you intentionally misled Guyanese on Nomination Day for which you should apologise.

Nigel Hinds alluded to health issues and medical results in November 2019. Nigel, let me tell you this. All untreated medical conditions would have symptoms before they are diagnosed. The fact that there is a significant gap between diagnosis and treatment would suggest that it is not acute or life-threatening. Hence, Nigel Hinds would have had symptoms for a while and mostly likely would have known about it long before the formation of Change Guyana. I would bet all of my 2020 wages and the promise to power wash Nigel’s driveway and cars daily for one year, that his medical condition is longstanding, hence it is unlikely a determining factor that he is making it out to be. This is not a wild guess on my part. This conclusion is based on someone who is a highly qualified medical doctor. Also, I am reasonably certain that Badal would have been aware of this medical condition on formation of Change Guyana; therefore, he cannot try using it as a factor for Nigel’s withdrawal.

Here we have Robert Badal, who wishes to lead a country and cannot even lead his own political party.

Nigel Hinds said he was awaiting medical results before he renounced his citizenship. He said unfortunately, the results were not good, so he cannot renounce his citizenship. Nigel thinks that Guyanese are fools. What if the results were good Nigel, would you have started the process of renouncing your American citizenship on Saturday? There is just one problem Nigel, one big problem. You would have had to complete the renunciation in three days. A process that takes months, would have had to completed in three days. Nigel, you are a special kind of person to come up with this story. Guyanese would have more likely believed a Dexta Daps kind story than the one you are peddling. Dexta Daps is a Jamaican artiste who was trying to convince us that the young lady in his hotel room, under his blanket, in his bed, hugging, kissing him and taking pictures of him, he does not know her. Her mysterious entry into his hotel room was possible despite him locking his door securely, multiple CCTV cameras, hotel security and him sleeping with the door key in his underpants. Nigel Hinds is apparently afflicted with the Dexta Daps syndrome. He too went to bed on Saturday, took all reasonable security precautions, but when he awoke there was an American passport in his bed with his name, Dob, country of birth, height, ethnicity and shockingly his photo. He was not aware of this passport existence when quite a few politicians were speaking of renouncing their naturalised citizenship. He just sat quietly with his mouth zip tight like Irfaan Ali’s, knowing pretty well that he too is a dual citizen.

Mr Editor, is there an unexplained phenomenon with the Hinds’ name and being made prime ministerial candidate? That combination always results in some very inexplicable comportment. First, we had Sam and now we have to contend with Nigel. Two Hinds oddities in less than a generation. I seriously hope Dr David Hinds does not have prime ministerial aspirations.

As it stands, most Guyanese are of the opinion that Robert Badal was a part of this scheme. He must have known something. Dual Citizenship in Parliament was a topical issue in 2019. Change Guyana clearly wanted to maintain the status quo. I think a more appropriate name for Badal’s party is Unchanged Guyana.

Get well soon Nigel. I trust my harsh words have not exacerbated your medical
condition.

Regard
Dr Mark Devonish