IN my June 20, 2024 column for this newspaper, titled, “I cannot afford $960 for a simple ice cream cone,” I wrote the following words: “I ask that Mr. Campbell, the franchise holder of Dairy Queen, please reimburse me $790? I will never, never in my life in Guyana, again, pay $960 for a simple ice cream cone.”
The new kid on the block is Mr. Terrence Campbell. Mr. Campbell has implored the opposition parties of the PNC, AFC and WPA to put aside their differences. He said he is willing to be part of the coalition. Obviously, Mr. Campbell will want the Finance Ministry if the coalition by some impossible magical formula wins the general election due in November.

Is this the kind of Finance Minister Guyana deserves? A man whose business, Dairy Queen, sells a simple ice-cream cone for $980? You don’t have to accept what I am about to write; just check it out. Ask the cashiers at Banks DIH outlet what Freddie Kissoon buys all the time when he comes in – ice cream cone.
A cone at Banks DIH is $140 and is delectable, delicious, saccharine and out of this world. How do I know that? I am an ice cream freak. Dairy Queen’s cone is billions of miles behind the quality of Banks DIH’s. Read my June 2024 article. I dropped dead when I gave the cashier at Dairy Queen my $1,000 bill and she gave me back $40 change.

How can an ice cream cone cost $1,000 dollars? What is Mr. Campbell smoking? Konga Pump? The most one should pay for a cone is $240. I cannot trust Mr. Campbell with the economy of my country when his business sells items that are immensely expensive.
I want Mr. Campbell to know that I am not joking. I want my money back. Mr. Campbell knows where to find me – we face each other regularly in the National Park in the mornings. Or he can find me every evening at the Eve Leary seawall. It is not the $800 that is the issue. It is the principle involved. Mr. Campbell should not be selling an ice cream cone for $960? I will take the $800 and put it in my pocket, and could not be bothered with what people say. It is the principle.

Mr. Campbell has to know that when he entered politics, his public/political life will be scrutinised. I have no intention now or ever to write anything personal about any politician or political activist, but they must expect their political and ideological perspectives to be analysed by public intellectuals like me.
I am asking Mr. Campbell why is it that the most expensive cone in Guyana is $360 at Giftland Food Court and his cone is $960. I don’t care who says what about me, I am saying with pellucid grammar, I cannot afford to buy a cone for $960. I honestly believe most Guyanese will not accept an ice cream cone that goes for $960? What is inside a steak that sells for $72,000 at a high-rise local restaurant?

Of course Mr. Campbell will not respond to me and will not reimburse me because incredible hubris, pomposity hauteur exist in the AFC that Mr. Campbell is close with. Nigel Hughes, someone I respect, has not answered a question posed to him directly. I repeat it – why did he participate in May 2015 in the decision to offer the post of Minister of the Environment to a member of the Mulatto/Creole class, who is a close relative of Mr. Campbell, and she was a complete stranger to AFC politics?
I have put other important questions to Nigel and other big-wigs in the AFC (who were in government, 2015-2020) but arrogance always gets in the way and no answers are forthcoming.

Since we are on the topic of questions to the AFC, I am asking Mr. Campbell to give a response to the following query – does he accept that the legal result of the 2020 election was being tampered with from March to July 2020 so as to give the PNC and AFC permanent power.
I use the term permanent power because if they rigged it in 2020 why would they not rig it in 2025? Of course, I know I will not get an answer from Campbell but the lack of a response will not stop me from putting questions to Mr. Campbell.
I don’t know if Mr. Campbell saw the Freddie Kissoon Show last Wednesday. A question was asked of him by the panel. I repeat it; if there is a coalition with PNC, AFC and WPA, would he accept David Hinds as part of the outfit. I await my money from Mr. Campbell

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.