ABOUT 20 years ago, I decided that I will devote a column to the correspondence with people, especially the plethora of emails about everything in and about Guyana.
After doing two columns, I did not continue. Then about 10 years ago, I decided I will do at least one commentary a month on the things people send me. I didn’t follow up.
Many of the emails I get come from people who either do not like the government or are purely driven by anti-government frenzy, or are just plain supporters of the opposition. The line is always the same – Freddie how can you not say something.”
Since Azruddin Mohamed entered politics, I got several emails about people asking me if I don’t think he is part of the future of Guyana’s politics. People would write and tell me about the 16 seats he won. Since I did a series of articles on Stabroek News and Rupert Roopnaraine, I got emails about some of my comments on them.
The problem I have with anti-government people writing to me is how twisted or barefaced their minds are. They enquire as to how I feel about wrong things they think the government is doing, but never on the wrong things other sections of the society do, some of which, threaten the very foundation of this country.
So, I would reply and plead with them to let’s enter into a discussion in which I will answer their questions and they will answer mine. It never ends up like that. They never even in a one-word sentence react to my queries. So, I ask what is special about Azruddin Mohamed. I ask if they are not revolted about his name being linked with a notorious homicide.
My thing about Mohamed is simple. Voters saw no hope in the PNC and transferred their vote to WIN. Secondly, I believe deeply in my academic mind that there was a mistake when the government concentrated too much on him. If left unmentioned, Mohamed would not have received the attention he finally got.
I always ask those email senders if they are not concerned that the Americans have information on this man that is frightening when you think of how much revenue Guyana lost. The brutal reality is that when Mohamed went about sharing out goodies it was not his money the stuff was bought with, but the revenue that should have gone to the Treasury.
I think the people who have questioned me about the glow they feel about Mohamed have been people with twisted minds. How can one bring one’s self to criticise the PPP leadership, while in the same breath you support someone like Azruddin Mohamed? Mr Mohamed has not done one thing to endear Guyanese to him before and after the 2025 elections.
Before the elections, Mohamed was dishing out money in order to get votes, a scenario that was never seen in the Commonwealth before as put by the Attorney General Anil Nandlall. Prior to the election, he was trumpeting his arrogance by telling other political parties they must sink their identities in his party rather than a coalition format.
After the elections, WIN informed the PNC that it will decide who the Shadow Ministers from the PNC must be. WIN rejected a formula that would see the Shadow Ministers and representation on parliamentary committees being shared mathematically.
WIN wants to have all three GECOM commissioners. Based on a logical mathematical formula, the PNC must have one commissioner. Why a party with 16 seats must have three commissioners and a party with 12 seats, get none?
The anti-government enquiries I get reveal the limited minds of some Guyanese and it worries you because you want to know how people could be so barefaced. Kaieteur News normally would publish a few anonymous letters calling upon me to explain my political transformation.
I never reply to anonymous writers, but I get the same questions from emails and my answer is always the same. Why you pick on someone who has no official status in Guyana and not those whose conduct is far more deleterious to social stability?
Why write on me and the danger that Guyana faces with Azruddin Mohamed? Why write on me and not the disaster that the PNC has become? Which society can be a psychologically comforting one if it does not have an opposition?
Where is the historical PNC in Guyana today? In which country, the leader of a political party can preside over the degutting of the party and suffer an incredible electoral devastation yet refuses to resign? The next time you write me, those are the things I want to discuss, not what the Government of Guyana is doing.
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.
