From OFAC and Magnitsky to a federal grand jury in Florida, the fate of some Guyanese is pondered, decided. On Monday the news broke: Messrs. Azruddin Mohamed and Nazar “Shell” Mohamed indicted on 11 charges. Two businessmen ensnared in a U.S. net cast in a wide arc. What do I think of this?
First, and for the record, I know only the eldest of this indicted trio. I proceed. There is the law, and it must apply to all. I wish that these matters were developed and detected in Guyana. How proud would I have been about respect for the law, its universal application! Even Anil Nandlall of Guyana’s attorney general stature couldn’t compete with that respect. When no one is above Guyana’s laws, then Mr. Nandlall can occupy the first chair, but not before. Now, this is less of two Guyanese indicted, and more of government failure at the highest levels. To be brutally frank, more than one government, more than one operating under one color. Foremost is the convention that these Guyanese are innocent until proven otherwise. But one fact can’t be denied. When favors are extended and accepted, a pact is sealed. When money is grabbed or demanded, under whatever cover, then where does that leave leadership, governance? This is where the U.S is forced to step in, sanction, then indict. What next? Extradition? Now, I move to the broader areas of national sovereignty, parliamentary territory, democracy, and the USA-Guyana special fraternity.
A man out of nowhere electrified swaths of the Guyanese electorate, even with sanctions hanging around his neck, and matters have come to this. Indictment via a U.S. grand jury. My first question out of a few today, is what does this do to the will of the Guyanese people, and their power to choose their own champions? Has the will of Guyanese been subverted, reduced to zilch?
Next, I get belated understanding as to why the parliamentary clock is currently being rundown to the last day. Could it be that developments from U.S. federal jurisprudence were awaited? What now, a request for extradition? Meanwhile, Guyana’s parliament is enjoying a sabbatical, with taints staining long before its doors are reopened. Specifically, whatever Azruddin Mohamed was and is, however he would have turned out to be in parliament, he may not be allowed to put foot in there. I note that while several of Mohamed enterprises are specifically named in the grand jury indictment, the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party is not among them. If the head of WIN is removed, where does that leave the remaining body in parliament, and to what effect, since the people didn’t vote for them? How could that prompt his supporters to react? The seismic change in the political landscape could be the first victim. Neutered before it got going, and with implications for a return to the old rancid racial and political divisions.
Further, I return to charges and put this before Guyanese: how come it is the Mohameds alone, and not their helper, PS Thomas, as identified in the U.S indictments? If it comes to extradition, it cannot be only two. How this has developed now, with two indicted, and not three? Even if limited to local legal/court developments, it cannot be just two, for that would be travesty of justice. How can the PS be separated from the now indicted Mohameds, when her name was so embedded? Is that the newest mystery in this crime saga?
On another note, I must revisit the sequence of events faced today, and give honorable mention to U.S. Ambassador, Excellency Nicole D. Theriot. Did she setup Guyanese? Her first foray into l’affaire Mohamed was to express her government’s “concern.” Point taken, given what was stirring. How to work when Mohamed is part of a parliamentary committee, and privy to different levels of sensitive information? From “concern”, Excellency Theriot then navigated to ‘find ways to work with sanctioned individuals.’ There was exhalation in some quarters here. but now there is that separate and independent stream of U.S. governance, the judicial pillar, making its presence felt via indictments of the Mohameds and another. Concern is now concretized. I ask again, was that a setup, what Native Americans used to call speaking with a forked tongue?
Summary: We cavort with democracy, national sovereignty, parliamentary duty, oil economy. Those must be jokes; unfitting even as apologies. Not one Guyanese should be deceived, because Guyana is truly a slave society at its core. Parliament is disemboweled: can’t pass oil laws. Leaders are castrated: fear upending Guyana’s odious institution, its oil contract. Voters are spayed: their votes don’t count. Citizens sterilized here: operated on in Florida. National sovereignty and national self-determination? I write my insights. Guyanese get to say what’s right.
