IN the Social Sciences, there is a method named “logical deduction.” One simple example should suffice.
If a medical doctor advises you to avoid all pain killers except one, then do the logical deduction. He may have a relation with the company that produces the pain killer he avoids criticising. Logical deduction is not a complex method at all and does not require university training.
Do some logical deduction and you will find who Azruddin Mohamed opens his wallet to. Mr. Mohamed flew drones over the private residence of the President and his explanation was that he was filming a next-door house that he says the President bought.
Why would anyone pursuing the subject of a building next door make use of drones when a simple camera can be used to get different angles of the house in question?
Mohamed filmed the residence of the national intelligence chief. Mohamed’s explanation was that too much expenditure was going to security resources for the police officer. But why undertake that assignment in the night using a dark-tinted vehicle? Cadres from Mr. Mohamed’s party or his opposition office can be assigned to that project to be done in the day time.
In this day of incredible technology, you can film a structure without going to the gate much less using a moving vehicle. Mohamed’s explanation is asinine because filming the façade of a building cannot reveal the extent of the security arrangements.
There would be security ranks at the back of the building too. Mohamed then could not have truly ascertained the full complement of security personnel.
Outside of these two high risk adventures, Mohamed was driving a high-tech jet boat on the rivers of Guyana without legal documents. Since those three security breaches, the Kaieteur News (KN), Kiskadee Watch (KN), Village Voice (VV) and certain civil society groups have refused to comment and/or editorialise on Mohamed’s illegal misadventures. More than this, KN, KW and VV continue to give positive front page coverage to Mohamed on a daily basis.
Do the logical deduction and you will see the ubiquity of Mohamed’s money. VV carries a prominent story each day on Mohamed and it has a predictable mode – the response of Mohamed to the things that happen to him. Stabroek News folded up and the staff founded KW. The online entity sought start-up donations from the public. It got a whopping donation from a certain source.
These online entities have yet to run an editorial on the dangerous adventures of Mohamed but there is no shortage of demands from these news rooms that SOCU Head, Mr. Karimbaksh be relieved of his job. Then there are the usual anachronisms – Red Thread, Guyana Human Rights Association and Transparency International Guyana Inc (TIGI). The silence of these three misfits on Mohamed’s misconducts is graphic.
Why a country could produce a politician like Mohamed whose deportment is not only atrocious and dangerous but also illegal and the private media and civil society are silent? How do you explain this moral lapse in Guyanese society?
The answer goes back to the Watergate Scandal of 1974. For those too young to understand that incident; briefly, the Nixon presidency covered up a scandal involving state officials that broke into the office in the Watergate hotel complex of the Opposition Democratic Party.
Two Washington Post journalists, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who were investigating the role of President Nixon was fortunate to have access to the then Deputy Head of the FBI, Mark Felt. He would meet with the two journalists in secret places from time to time. To shoulder them directly to Nixon’s involvement, Felt would often tell them to follow a paper trail of spending. His Words were: “Follow the money.”
Since then, in 1974, journalists investigating bribery in every form of financial transaction would tell their fellow investigators, “Follow the money.” If you want to see the ubiquity of Azruddin’s reach in this country, then follow the money. VV is run by the Trade Union Council whose buildings were recently burnt down. KW needs public donations to stay alive.
The GRA recently fired a number of officers who permitted a number of vehicles owned by Mohamed to be transferred in other peoples’ names. Once any public servant sees an application in front of them by Azruddin Mohamed, commonsense would dictate that they throw that paper upstairs.
Who in Guyana does not know about the notoriety and infamy of Azruddin Mohamed? The first thing public servant or policeman would do when Mohamed has a paper matter in front of them is to say: “Nah me bhai, let de big ones deal with dat.” Do the logical deduction in relation to the support Mohamed gets by following the money.
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.
