Dear Editor,
A nation already fatigued by economic strain and governance scandals awoke this week to a chilling revelation: Guyana has been quietly footing a US$62,588.78 bill, paid to a Jamaican legal team representing the United States of America in the extradition proceedings against businessmen Nazar“Shell” Mohamed and his son, political aspirant Azruddin Mohamed.
The confidential Ministry of Home Affairs memorandum confirming this one-month payment is more than a bureaucratic blunder—it is a symbol of how deeply compromised national sovereignty has become under the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government.
Why is Guyana—nominally a victim state—funding the legal costs of a foreign superpower that initiated its own prosecution? This unprecedented move betrays not just fiscal recklessness but a disturbing alignment of political and foreign interests.
What possible justification could exist for a small-developing nation to serve as financier to the world’s most powerful government in a case that, by every legal standard, should have been conducted transparently within Guyana’s own courts?
History shows Guyana has efficiently managed multiple extradition requests without resorting to foreign-paid counsel. Yet suddenly, when the case involves the high-profile Mohamed family—businessmen with political ambitions—the government abandons protocol, outsources its role, and conceals the cost from the public.
It reeks of transactional politics. This is not international cooperation; it is complicity cloaked in diplomacy.
The Attorney General’s evasions about these payments only deepen suspicion. Each denial, each half-truth, signals that this is not an administrative error—it is a calculated deception. Having lost all integrity for misleading the nation repeatedly, the AG should do the honorable thing and demit office .If not recuse himself from any further involvement in this matter.
Taxpayers’ funds are being diverted not to fight crime or strengthen justice but to serve an agenda of political elimination. The optics cannot be ignored: Azruddin Mohamed, viewed as a rising political voice, now finds himself caught in a crossfire that appears as much about silencing dissent as enforcing law.
At its core, this saga exposes a creeping erosion of self-determination. A government that pays foreign lawyers to advance another nation’s case has surrendered more than treasure—it has surrendered principle. For every dollar spent this way, an invisible debt is incurred: one owed not to justice or fairness, but to power and control. It signals that Washington whispers and Georgetown obeys.
What emerges is an administration so desperate to retain dominance that it will conspire, conceal, and collaborate with foreign actors—at the expense of its own people. The PPP’s repeated deception about these payments is not mere political spin; it is a conscious attempt to condition the public into accepting subservience as diplomacy. If unchallenged, this will embolden further sellouts—of justice, of institutions, and ultimately, of the nation itself.
Guyana stands at a perilous crossroads. Either citizens demand transparency now, holding their leaders to account for every cent spent and every lie uttered, or we resign ourselves to a state where justice is bought, truth is silenced, and sovereignty becomes a fading relic in our national memory.
Sincerely,
Hemdutt Kumar .
