Dear Editor,

I am appalled by three articles produced by Demerara Waves on April 15 and 16, 2020 concerning the government’s employment of US Lobbying firm JJ&B, LLC. What is appalling is the fact that Mercury Public Affairs, LLC, hired by the PPP/C is also a US Lobbying firm and Demerara Waves seemed not very concerned with how the PPP/C was, since March 5, 2019 and continues up until now, to be able to pay Mercury its fees. Is it that A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) supporters cannot afford, just like PPP/C supporters to pay for a lobbying firm? Demerara Waves seems also not concerned that the information circulated by Mercury on behalf of the PPP/C is one-sided, partial and in most cases, false. Even worse, Demerara Waves seems not in the least concerned that Mercury has had a lead time of more than a year to do the PPP/C’s biddings, “including representing the organisation before, and arranging meetings with, the executive branch and Congress, the Organisation of American States, and think-tanks in connection with issues relating to the anticipated general and regional elections to take place in the Cooperative Republic of Guyana”.

To report on this matter in the manner that Demerara Waves has is not in any way beneficial to the Guyanese people and only serves to cause further mischief in our society.

Since it seems that most of the media is being used as a tool by the PPP/C to misinform the Guyanese public, permit me Editor, to bring a balanced view to what is transpiring. The information that I am about to relay and that which Demerara Waves seem to be using as if obtained through thorough research and investigative journalism is readily available on the US Department of Justice website: https://search.justice.gov/search?affiliate=justice_fara&page=3&query=People+Progressive+Party%3B+Mercury%3B+Guyana&sort_by=&utf8=%E2%9C%93.

Lobbying on behalf of a foreign agent is permitted in the US under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), 1938, as amended. Persons carrying out such services are required to be registered with the FARA Unit. The main aim of this Act is to prevent espionage in the US, especially after September 11, 2001, hence it is required that materials submitted on behalf of the foreign client is submitted to the FARA Unit. While this may seem harmless, it is very dangerous when lobbying or paid advocacy as it is known in the UK, is utilised in certain situations including elections. It is for this very reason that Paul Manaford, President Trump’s former campaign manager, is now imprisoned and also why Lord Barker of Battle of the UK’s House of Lord, who was instrumental in the removal of US Sanctions on En+ Group, was investigated by the Standard’s Committee. The common factor in these two cases is Mercury. So while A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has only recently contracted a JJ&B, this seems necessary to counter the treasonous actions, in my view, by the PPP/C which has led to threats of “serious consequences” by some of the same persons who were lobbied by Mercury on PPP/C’s behalf.

Having more than a year to lobby persons such as numerous US Senators both democratic and republican; the Chief-of-Staff of the Assistant Secretary General of the OAS; the US Ambassador to Guyana, Ambassador Sarah-Ann Lynch; the White House National Security Council and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee among many others with information below, is it not only right that APNU be allowed to counter the effects of the dissemination of such partial and inaccurate information? Need I remind Guyanese that our laws seem no longer relevant to lobbied persons? Please recall the allegations made against the Canadian Ambassador to Guyana, Lilian Chatterjee, by Guyana Elections Commission Commissioners that she barged into their meeting and berated them. Please also recall on March 6, 2020, Ambassador Michael Kozak, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the U.S. Department of State tweeted, irrespective of today’s legal proceedings, any government sworn in on the basis of that result would not be legitimate. A tweet proudly shared by the likes of the Private Sector Commission Chair, Gerald Gouveia repeated by the opposition leader. Is it the Demerara Waves’ expectation that APNU should roll over?

In the meanwhile Mercury has had ample time to, among other things,:

1. Forward elections results as “declared results” which were not issued by the Guyana Elections Commission. This document has the same content as the now infamous spreadsheet released by the PPP/C on 5 March, 2020 via its facebook page but dated 29 February, 2020. The only differences are the date which was changed to 7 March, 2020 and the insertion “declared results”;

2. Advised that the current government was known for rigging elections; will not hold free and fair elections without international pressure and called for international observers to be present at the elections. This is so despite the fact that APNU is a coalition government which first took office in 2015 and first contested the elections in 2011;

3. Instructed Senators Rubio and Menendez to issue statements jointly or separately concerning Guyana’s electoral outcome five days prior the March 2, 2020, elections;

4. Advised, during the period after the no confidence motion, that the Guyana Government was refusing to hold elections when in fact the matter was before the local court;

5. Advised that the Guyana Government is in breach of the Constitution of Guyana by failing to hold elections by March 21, 2019 as per a decision of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) when the CCJ actually stated, “It is not, for example, the role of the court to establish a date on or by which the elections must be held, or to lay down timelines and deadlines that, in principle, are the preserve of political actors guided by constitutional imperatives…”.

Mercury has not slackened its misinformation of those it is lobbying, why should APNU remain inactive? I would have expected a more serious, research-oriented approach to the effects of lobbying on the outcome of an elections, especially given what is transpiring in Guyana. Instead, Guyanese are robbed of an opportunity of edification given dribble. It is time Guyanese people unsubscribe from such poor journalism and partial reportage. I have!

Regards
M. Rasheed