Dear Editor,
PPP/C presidential candidate, Irfaan Ali’s statement that a PPP/C government will not condone corrupt or incompetent ministers, has to be the greatest piece of political absurdity yet to emanate from this criminally unconscionable political party.

This is unbridled arrogance to the max, especially coming from a would-be national leader, who has the darkest of clouds hanging over his head with regards nineteen pending criminal charges for spearheading, as a former Minister of Housing, the selling of acreages below market prices, to friends and cronies of the party. There are other related charges as well, which a High Court judge had ruled, that he must face the court, despite efforts to have those matters discontinued. And if the latter had not been enough, he has the big scandal surrounding the authenticity of his academic certificates, regarding their institutions of issue and where they are really geographically located.

Any decent, self-respecting citizen in such circumstance, who respected the meaning of probity, and constitutional norms, would never, on his own accord, be part of such an important process, much less to accept being the nominee. They would have recused themselves from such a constitutional process. But not the PPP/C and their dishonest candidate that has been foisted on the nation by party leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, and his captive, party senior executive. It is a reflection of the gross dishonesty that the Robb Street cabal has displayed for the constitution.

It is very difficult to fathom such an unbelievable episode of vile presumptuousness, coming from such a leader who is wholly tainted, and whose continued presence as an electoral candidate, insults what should be impeccable standards that are known to traditionally govern such a selection process. More vexatious is the fact that he originates from a political party, – the PPP/C – that is the standard measurement for institutionalised corruption within CARICOM.

Editor, this should not be the manner of summing up the personal integrity of one who aspires to leadership at the national helm, since such a citizen, irrespective of political party affiliation, should be shown great respect. However, here is a citizen of disreputable national standing, trying his party’s old three-card political trick, of attempting to deflect from its dismal and insalubrious record of governance, by speaking as the moral calibre of his would-be cabinet members, if his party wins the imminent national elections.

How can he dare seek the moral high ground on such an all-important issue of personal integrity for high office, when still in the condition of an accused before the court, on allegations that shed light in the dark corridors of PPP/C corruption? How can he even speak about competency, given the national wreckage that he and his former colleagues would have left behind, when his party was defeated at the last elections? This is the classic political con game, being tried by Ali and his party, and it must not succeed.

Regards,
Earl Hamilton