– Harmon’s shameless attempt to rally disillusioned supporters of the Opposition must be rejected by all Guyanese
OLD Kai can’t seem to stop laughing, is serious business but I cannot help it. It is my view that APNU’s ‘mouth-eh-preke in chief’ Joseph Harmon should leave politics and pursue a career as a standup comedian, his next best bet would be acting but I do not think he is Oscar material.With all the ‘licks’ in public opinion against APNU and AFC over the past few weeks, they have gotten extremely desperate. It is an uncomfortable position for them as they are not used to a negative spotlight being focused in their direction. Up to this point, they have had a relatively easy ride as they have always managed to place the focus or shift blame on the Government or the PPP and watched from the sidelines but always keen to stir the pot so as to create political and economic gridlock with their misinformation.

QUOTE: This man needs to urgently get his head examined, if he really believes what his mouth is saying.

Times have however changed, as with all their ‘big talk’ after the 2011 elections of their one-seat majority and how they will use it to usher in a new wave of transparency and accountability in public affairs, they have in fact managed to undermine these pillars of our democracy. The Private Sector Commission has effectively been kicked out from monitoring how both the ruling party and the Opposition are treating the nation’s business, compliments of APNU/AFC.
Their budget cuts have been deemed illegal as they are in contravention of our constitution. They have managed to get Guyana blacklisted and citizens, including their own supporters are beginning to feel the squeeze.
The developers of the Amaila hydro project which promised stable and cheaper electricity were chased out of Guyana, while at the same time they tried to force GPL to increase rates on consumers by 22%. Opposition supporters affected by the budget cuts, including those who lost their jobs in 2011 were told by their very own leaders that they were ‘collateral damage’.

To compound the situation, almost every day Guyanese open the newspaper to find out that yet another Opposition leader is being accused of some skulduggery by a citizen, with the most popular being the act of swindling persons out of their properties. Then no less than the former General Secretary of the main Opposition comes forward and accuses his party of serious corruption, which he says he has evidence of.

It is easy to see why supporters of the parliamentary Opposition parties, APNU and AFC, have become so dejected, they have been betrayed. Anyone will tell you that it hurts more when you have been betrayed by someone close to you or whom you look up to, rather than a stranger. Traditional non-supporters of the PPP are now beginning to see the party in a new light; they were fed all manner of nasty misinformation about the party and its modus operandi. They are slowly coming to the realisation that they have been misled all along. This reality was summed up when the Opposition in their main stronghold of Linden, failed to mobilise their supporters for a planned shutdown of the township.

This has sent shivers up the spines of the Opposition cabal, so much so that based on their recent statements they seem very unsure, insecure and lost as each public statement seemed to contradict the other.

Old Kai had a smirk on his face when an old PNC man selling pumpkins at Bourda market who I would always engage in a little banter, remarked that ‘dem bai da (APNU) now look like 4th grade politicians’. Imagine their own supporter did not see it fit to refer to them as 2nd or 3rd grade politicians in being critical of their actions. The lowest of the low was reserved for them.

Anyone will tell you, when one is in such a position, desperation will make a man do almost anything, which is what brings me back to our boy, Joseph Harmon. Not surprisingly, Kaieteur News has been directed yet again to push the Opposition’s propaganda.

In a sinister effort to rally back the support they are losing steadily, the Opposition through Harmon has sought to portray themselves as victims of the big bad PPP/C Government. It is their hope that when they project this image that they are coming under attack by the PPP/C Government, they will force the hand of their disillusioned supporters and force them back into the Opposition camp by appealing to their false insecurities.

So what exactly is this big, bad PPP/C Government being accused of? Printing a full page ad calling on Guyanese to condemn the Opposition for dragging their feet on the AML/CFT amendment bill!

According to Harmon, “The advertisement seeks to denigrate the Opposition, and seeks to insinuate that the Opposition is supportive of money launderers and drug lords.” Further, Harmon and Kaieteur News have interpreted “Let us stop the Opposition from destroying Guyana now” which is included in the ad to mean, “They are inciting violence against the Opposition; this is a clear provocation.”

This man needs to urgently get his head examined, if he really believes what his mouth is saying. A quick perusal of the ad and you will see that it simply states the obvious. There is no insinuation or call to violence but the Opposition is so insecure after being exposed that any and everything is being construed as an attack on them. Even the PSC witnessing their antics in the National Assembly is being seen as a threat. APNU and Harmon also need to be reminded that the facts in the ad have been supported by their former General Secretary, who has accused the party of being involved in criminal activities. Aubrey Norton says he has evidence! Why doesn’t APNU challenge him to make his evidence public, if according to Harmon they are innocent?

Harmon then dryly announces that because of the ad, “Opposition members are now insecure”. No, sir, the Opposition members are insecure because they have been exposed and have nowhere to hide and cannot come up with a palatable excuse, so they have resorted to clutching at straws.

Old Kai will now expose another lie by the ‘insecure’ Harmon and APNU and maybe, he would play this up as a threat too.

In the Kaieteur article, Harmon admits that his party is ready to support the AML/CFT bill as it is but there is a BUT! He is quoted as saying, “Opposition Leader, David Granger, has already signalled to the President that support for the Bill is conditional, in that he would have to support the Opposition Bills already approved.”

However, on February 5 APNU issued a statement saying “It is committed to amending the AML bill to protect Guyana” meaning they still have these mystery amendments which they cannot share with the public or have included thus far in the bill at the committee level.

Now which statement should we believe because both of them are coming from APNU?

What this further serves to confirm is that the Opposition cannot be trusted and Kaieteur News loves to publish a lie, once it will cast the PPP or PPP/C government in a bad light.