RECENTLY on social media we saw a man referring to himself as the “presumptive Leader of the Opposition.” This gentleman claimed that part of his job was to expose corruption. So far in his grand corruption exposé, this gentleman just goes in front of buildings he claims to be owned by serving ministers and their relatives and makes allegations of corruption. He insinuated that ministers must spend the rest of their days and die in “simple homes.” He expressed awe that a 55+ year-old minister is able to rebuild his home (that has been in his family for decades) and transform it from “simple,” when he visited it four years ago to “nice… with modern amenities.”

This column is not written to defend the minister who came under this querulous attack. I am sure the minister is quite capable of defending himself.

I however, aim simply to point out double standards of the attacker, the wild and cunning vices employed simply to sow wild oats of accusation, knowing that the gullibility train can run rampant on social media, in the hope that the minister and his colleagues are exposed to odium, hatred and disfavour.

One of the ministers who came under garrulous attack is Minister Mustapha. Again, this is not in defence of the minister. I have no knowledge about the minister’s finances, nor do I know anything about his loan and asset portfolio, so it would be silly of me to defend the minister’s asset acquisition. However, I happen to know many young professionals who are half the age of the minister and earn half the salary and were able to build homes on par with that which was displayed on social media, alleged to be the personal home of the minister.

Full disclosure before I move on. While I was a member of the AFC, I attacked several ministers, using images of their homes on social media. Through it all, never once did I allege that they acquired their homes corruptly. I respect hard work and ingenuity, because I have seen people build from scratch by sheer dexterity and others by pure luck, yet others who credit their acquisition simply as an act of God. What I did was to juxtapose how the area where ministers lived experienced rapid development while many people were living in unattended squalor. It was a feel-good opposition thing to do. When APNU+AFC won government, I received a reality check. From that point on, I never bothered to engage in that kind of gab. I came to realise that voters expected the bombarding of government activists who live in their streets, so that they could get every public convenience fixed. There is a different appreciation for this perspective when you are in government.

You hear comments like, “he always deh running behind PPP whole day, and when night come we can’t even get a streetlight.” “We still gaffi deh walking on dah mud dam and a big PPP man live right over deh.” “De playfield full ah sheer bush and he live right opposite the field.”  “From the time I small growing up in dis village, I know duh man deh behind PPP, dem spend five years in government and like he deh woss, dem ent do nothing fuh he, look he bruck down back step.” How can I support a party like duh?

The voters themselves in the various communities expect that the community must benefit from the presence of political activists and the activists themselves should demonstrate improvements to their lifestyles when their government is in office. Therefore, a conscientious political party knows that it’s part of its mandate to enable these expectations, or the party can lose support in its own backyard.

I said it in a previous column and repeated it on the Freddie Kissoon Show, that the core success of the PPP at the 2030/31 elections will not only come from the work and personality of Dr Ali, but the defining factor that will determine whether the PPP experiences further growth or relapse to a slim one-seat majority, will be the lifestyle of community activists and how they treat with community deliverables. I strongly believe this.

The thing about the constant bleating of the “presumptive leader of the opposition” is that he decries government officials for not having “simple” homes while he lives in a citadel walled off from the reach of average people. A man that is known to make social media posts of himself  as a playboy with multiple half-naked women on a yacht. This is a person who boasts via social media post of having a collection of over a dozen high-priced luxury vehicles.

Prior to being sanctioned by the U.S. government, this gentleman travelled via convoys of luxury vehicles, using illegal flashing lights and sirens. This is a person who had heavily armed gunmen with combat firearms patrolling the perimeter of his home and business premises.

Anyone meeting with him had to be escorted to his office by men with high-powered automatic rifles. This is a man who created barriers and colonised an entire section of the road and parapet of Lombard Street, in front of his business place, that deprives ordinary people.

Mr Presumptive believes he alone is entitled to display opulence and not an ‘ounce’ of it must be questioned. At least, most ministers live in ordinary community streets where their neighbours can walk up to the gates and ring the bell.

Mr Presumptive lives on a private road. If you are caught on that road leading to his billion-dollar mansion, without a good explanation, the consequences could be dire. Mr Presumptive can file parliamentary questions and motions, he could trigger investigations at the level of the Integrity Commission and the Financial Intelligence Unit. He can also bring private civil action directly against ministers and public officials to answer for any suspicious acquisitions.

Doing it the right way is hard work; it’s real opposition work. It takes time to research. Instead, wild and widely publicised accusations have become the easy coward’s way of hoping to snare the gullible. I expect this reckless insanity to continue and sooner or later he will receive a lawsuit and instead of turning up to court with his evidence of corruption, Mr Presumptive will cry victimisation and censorship.

I want to live in a country where unexplained property acquisition by those in power could be legitimately questioned. But I do not want to live in a country where wild men dodging criminal prosecution and failing to account for their part in international criminal rings, could just run around under the guise of doing political work and simply slap anyone they wish with the corruption label.

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.