Dear Editor,
I WISH to condemn the vituperative remarks against Mr Shaquawn Gill following the recent publication of his missive, Numbers Matter.

As a youth leader interested in Guyana’s socio-political landscape, he raised salient questions. Similarly, when my own article was published days earlier, the so-called “criticism” ignored the substantive issues and focused on
ad hominem attacks.

When questioned at his party’s January 10 “presser” regarding my statements challenging him to produce evidence or a list of alleged names and figures to substantiate his apparent claims that the PPP was involved in the deaths of 1,200 Black men—including the Henry boys—Hughes seemingly dismissed his original figure and produced a new one–400.

In his words, “If you’re asking me to argue whether it’s 1,200 or 1,100 or 1,400, to me, that’s secondary.”

Despite these statements, no evidence has been presented. Hughes utilises a predictable tactic: produce inflammatory claims, deflect, and evade scrutiny
when challenged, and shift focus to an entirely new narrative without addressing the original issue. His press conference statements underscore this.

He doubled down, claiming to have evidence but refusing to present it or provide figures, insisting the numbers were “secondary”—implying he could pull any figure from a hat and attribute it to the then-government without evidence. He then attempted an emotional fallacy with the following:
““So, if-if you’re asking me, it’s like asking me, did 6,000,000 Jews die in
Auschwitz or was it 4,000,000? Is that really the question you’re asking?””

The Holocaust is the most documented genocide in human history, with extensive records detailing the systematic extermination of over six million Jews across Nazi-occupied Europe. This is a dangerously irresponsible comparison by Mr Hughes.

He further stated:
“We have had jailbreaks, massacres… Lusignan happened under a particular
era, Bartica happened under a particular era. I—I mean, this country has been
littered. The history of this country since 1992 and before—I mean, before you
had a death squad—has been littered with people who have disappeared.”
Here, Hughes attempts to shift the goalposts by referencing the Lusignan and Bartica massacres and the 2002 jailbreak, while mentioning that death squads existed before 1992.

This deflects the conversation to state security apparatus failings and away from the core issue. This is the division playbook on full display.

In a 2013 Stabroek News article, then Opposition Leader David Granger campaigned for a CoI into the crime-wave period. By 2018, as President, he vowed in a DPI article to expose the “intellectual authors” of what he called the “Troubles” period. By 2019, with an election looming, only one inquiry had been completed: the Lindo Creek CoI. A Stabroek News article that year captured Granger stating, “You can’t convene a Commission of Inquiry and nobody’s going
to come forward with evidence,” but adding, “Once there is evidence, we will continue to search.”

President Granger could not hold a comprehensive inquiry into the crime-wave period due to a lack of evidence. Yet Hughes apparently had this evidence all along! Why didn’t he provide Granger with the requisite evidence to facilitate an inquiry?

Here are documented instances of Hughes making unsubstantiated claims, only to deflect when challenged:
● Warrau Immigrants: Hughes falsely claimed that the government had invited 30 Warrau
immigrants to the city, abandoned them at the Amerindian Affairs Ministry and
subsequently shifted focus to the need for a “comprehensive immigration policy.”
● 2020 Election Saga: Hughes boldly claimed the AFC had nothing to apologise for
during the 2020 election saga. When later asked about the coalition’s “winning SOPs,” he claimed not to have seen them, despite currently being a lawyer for some of the defendants in the election fraud case.
● No-Confidence Motion Case (2018): Hughes asserted that 34 votes were needed for a majority of 65, and not 33, which the CCJ rejected. He then shifted focus to the need for “constitutional reform” to restore “public trust in our systems.”
● Exim Bank Loan: AFC Chair David Patterson accused VP Jagdeo of lying about
Guyana receiving a $500M Exim Bank loan for the gas-to-energy project, a claim
debunked by a senior US State Department official. This illustrates that these tactics are not limited to Nigel Hughes, but are characteristic of the broader AFC leadership and reflective of its institutional approach.

The turbulent crime-wave period scarred the psyche of the Guyanese people. Like every Guyanese, I want us to uncover the truth of this dark chapter to ensure that every single person receives justice and for healing to begin. Misrepresentations and distortions will only stymie this.

Turning this collective trauma into political theatre is not only reprehensible, but cruel. It epitomises Hughes’ outdated political playbook: self-preservation at the expense of the Guyanese people. What better term for this than moral stagnation? We deserve better politics from the AFC: prioritising leadership on critical policy issues over cheap theatrics behind a veneer of pseudosophistication.

Better must come—not through empty and inflammatory rhetoric, but through genuine leadership in the service of the Guyanese people.

Yours faithfully,
Nikhil Sankar