-Dr. Jagdeo

PEOPLE’S Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday launched a sharp critique of the opposition Alliance For Change (AFC) and its leaders.

Dr. Jagdeo, at his weekly news conference held at the PPP’s Freedom House Georgetown Headquarters accused the party’s top brass of dodging tough questions, and failing to take responsibility for their actions in the past.

He focused particularly on AFC leader Nigel Hughes, claiming that he has been evasive and inconsistent in his public statements on key issues.

Jagdeo was particularly critical of Hughes’s response to questions about his ties to ExxonMobil, accusing him of withholding information about his financial relationship with the oil giant.

“I think he’s trying to avoid the question,” Jagdeo said.

Dr. Jagdeo also questioned Hughes’s reluctance to apologise for the AFC’s role in the 2020 election crisis, accusing the party of complicity in attempts to rig the election.

Jagdeo continued to press Hughes on his refusal to apologise for the AFC’s actions, calling it a sign of failure to take responsibility for their past behaviour.

“He now needs a review; a study to see if they tried to rig to justify stealing elections… He needs a study to determine, and then he will determine whether they have to apologise or not. This could only happen in a country like Guyana where people get a free pass,” Jagdeo said, adding:

“Imagine that! After all the evidence, all the international reports, now he needs a study to determine the facts! This could only happen in a country like Guyana, where some people are given a free pass to lie and evade.”

Further amplifying his criticism, Dr. Jagdeo accused Hughes of revisiting old and false narratives from the past, including claims of a mass disappearance of African males under the PPP administration during the 1990s.

Hughes had recently referenced this in a public interview, and Dr. Jagdeo did not hesitate to call it out as “pure propaganda”.

“Imagine in 2024, for this guy who is talking about decency in politics and being truthful and arguing about how all politicians have to change and work for the good of the country could repeat a blatant lie like this, and expect to get away with it!” he said.

The PPP General Secretary ended his remarks by reiterating that the opposition’s claims of political decency and change are nothing more than a facade. “Every time the AFC is cornered, they revert to the same old rhetoric,” Dr. Jagdeo said Thursday, adding:

“They’re not prepared to be challenged on the inconsistency of their positions, because whatever you say, your track record in politics always would come back to haunt you. And he has so much baggage from the past, that they would haunt him into next year and forever, I think. So, every time he’s asked a question, he sounds uninformed, or not prepared, because, I think even in his head, he is conflicted.”